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ST.  George's  chapel,  beekman  street,  1752 


HISTORY  OF 

ST.  GEORGE'S  CHURCH 


IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


17^2-181 1-1911 


BY 


THE  REV.  HENRY  ANSTICE,  D.D. 

SECRETARY  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  DEPUTIES  OF  THE 
GENERAL  CONVENTION 


HAR  PER     &    BR  OTH  ER  S 
NEW  YORK    -    MCMXI 


COPYRIGHT.   1911.    BY    HARPER   a    BROTHERS 


CONTENTS 
PAET    I 

iNTRODrcTORY Page  xiii. 

CHAPTER    I 

Religious  Beginnings  in  New  York 

(1623-1748) 

Foreword — First  Settlement  on  Manhattan  Island — Religious  Services — Domine 
Bogardus — The  first  Church — The  Church  in  the  Fort — Absence  of  Religious 
Toleration — First  Municipal  Government — Persecution  of  Lutherans  and 
Quakers — Civic  Affairs — England's  Claim  to  the  Territory — Expedition  to 
take  Possession — Religious  Toleration  under  English  Rule — Dutch  Reoccupa- 
tion — Second  Surrender  to  the  English — Chaplains  in  the  Fort — New  York 
under  Royal  Gtovemors — The  Earliest  Churches — Attempts  to  secure  legal 
Ministerial  Maintenance — The  City  Vestry — Incorporation  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church — The  Beginnings  of  Trinity — Election  of  Mr.  Vesey  as  Rector — • 
His  Ordination — Incorporation  of  Trinity  Church — Cordial  Relations  with 
the  Dutch  Congregation — Description  of  the  original  Trinity  Church — Hos- 
tility of  Gov.  Bellomont — Property  ceded  to  the  Church  under  Lord  Corn- 
bury — Description  thereof — The  "  Venerable  Society,"  the  S.  P.  G. — Steady 
but  slow  Gro\vth  of  the  Church — Gov.  Hunter's  Antipathy  to  Mr.  Vesey — 
His  appointment  as  Bishop's  Commissary — Wm.  Bradford's  Publication  of 
the  First  Newspaper — Enlargements  and  Improvements  of  the  Church — Close 
of  Dr,  Vesey's  Rectorship — Election  of  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Barclay    .     .     Page  1 

CHAPTER    II 

The  CnAPEn:,  Period 

(1749-1811) 

Need  of  increased  Church  Accommodation — Steps  to  secure  a  Chapel  in  the 
Parish — Description  of  the  Edifice — Account  of  the  Opening  Service — Assign- 
ment of  Rev.  :Mr.  Auchmuty  to  its  Special  Charge — The  Collegiate  Plan  of 
Clerical  Service — Tlie  Charity  School — Foundation  of  King's  College — Its 
Commencements  in  St.  George's — Interest  in  the  Institution  in  England— 
The  Pantiles,  Clock,  and  Burial  Fees — ^Vork  among  the  Negroes — Death  of 
Dr.  Barclay— Rev.  Mr.  Auchmuty  Rector— Portents  of  the  Revolution— St. 
Paul's  Chapel — Society  for  Relief  of  Widows  and  Children  of  Clergymen- 
Financial  Condition  of  Parish — Gift  to  St.  George's  by  Gov.  Tryon Position 

of  Clergy  at  Outbreak  of  the  Revolution — Gen.  Washington  in  New  York 

Rector  Auchmuty  and  Assistants  close  the  Churches  and  Leave — The  British 
General  occupies  New  Y^ork — Return  of  the  Clergj.- — Disastrous  Fire — Trinity 
Church  destroyed— Total  losses  of  the  Parish— Collections  for  Charity  School 


O^ 


iv  CONTENTS 

—Use  of  St.  George's  given  to  Dutch  Congregation— Chapel  Items— Service 
for  Refugees— Close  of  War- Resignation  of  Dr.  Inglis — Evacuation  by  Brit- 
ish— Public  Thanksgiving — Dangers  to  Church  in  Transition  Period — Special 
Difficulties  confronting  Parish — Rev.  Dr.  Provoost  Rector — Elected  Bishop — 
His  First  Ordination  in  St.  George's— Rebuilding  of  Trinity— Rector 
Provoost's  Wise  Administration — His  Resignation — Rev.  Dr.  ]\Ioore  his 
Successor  in  both  Parish  and  Episcopate — Conditions  in  the  City  in  1811 — 
The  Jones-Hobart   Controversy— Action   of   the   Corporation   of   Trinity. 

Page  22 

CHAPTER    III 

Period  of  Organization  and  Kewley  Rectorship 

(1811-1816) 

Preliminary  Action  of  Trinity  Vestry — St.  George's  Questions — Trinity's 
Answers — Certificate  of  the  Congregation — Act  of  Incorporation — First 
Meeting  of  St.  George's  Vestry — Steps  to  secure  a  Rector — Services  by  Rev. 
Dr.  John  Bowden  and  Rev.  John  Brady — Purchase  of  Bogert  Property — Other 
gifts  from  Trinity — Lots  received  for  Endowment — Vestry  Directions  as  to 
the  Services — Chanting  a  Vexed  Question — The  Van  Wagenen  Incident — 
Call  of  Dr.  Kewley — His  Acceptance — Mr.  Brady  continued  as  Assistant 
Minister — Institution  of  both  by  Bp.  Hobart — Right  to  Transfer  Pews — 
Third  Service  on  Sundays — Church  destroyed  by  Fire — Services  held  in  Church 
Du  Saint  Esprit — Application  to  Trinity  for  Aid — Consent  to  rebuild  on 
Basis  of  Reimbursement  in  part  through  sale  of  Pews — Additional  Lots 
granted  for  Endowment — Purchase  of  Burling  Property — Relative  Rights 
of  Rector  and  Assistants — Rector  appeals  to  Bisliop — Desires  to  visit  Eng- 
land^— Vestry  consents — Rector  returns — Xew  Church  Consecrated — Sale  of 
Pews — Sundry  Directions  of  the  Vestry — Description  of  the  new  Edifice — 
Thanks  to  Vestry  of  St.  Esprit  Church — Land  bought — Vaults  and  Owners — 
Troubles  of  the  Assistant  Minister — His  Resignation — Resignation  of  the 
Rector — Dr.  Kewley's  Letters — ^Acceptance  of  Resignation — Dr.  Kewley's 
Departure  from  country — His  Letter  to  Bishop  Hobart  with  Reasons  for 
Returning  to  the  Church  of  Rome — Surprise  and  Indignation  in  St.  George's 

Page  49 

CHAPTER    IV 

The  Mllnor  Period 

(1816-1830) 

Invitation  to  Visit  New  York — Mr.  Milnor's  Reply — A  Committee  Visits 
Philadelphia — ^Mr.  Mlilnor  called — Visit  to  New  York — His  Acceptance — 
Letters  of  Transfer — Rev.  Ralph  Williston  ad  interim — Institution  by  Bp. 
Hobart — Letter  of  Institution — Characterization  of  Dr.  Milnor's  Ministry 
and  Influence — Appreciation  by  Vestry  and  Congregation — Sunday-school 
Work — The  Stress  laid  upon  it  by  Drs.  Milnor,  Tyng,  and  Rainsford — Its 
Inception  through  Laymen — The  Sunday-school  and  Lecture-room  Building — 
Its  Formal  Opening — Account  of  the  Various  Schools — New  Organ,  Bell, 
and  Clock — Rectoi-'s  Proposition  to  erect  a  Study — Accepted  by  Vestry — 
]\Ir.  Thomas  Smith's  Gift  of  Bell — Clock  placed  in  Steeple — Rector's  Proposi- 
tion as  to  Sunday-school  Galleries  in  Church — Accepted  by  Vestrj" — Monu- 
ment to  Rev.  J.  W.  Eastburn — Schedule  of  Real  Estate — Income'  and  Ex- 
penditure— Organ  Fund  raised  by  Rector — Contract  for  Instrument — Growth 
of  Congregation — Rector's  View  of  Conditions — ^Mention  of  Rev.  Mr.  Tyng — 
Dr.   Milnor's    Hold   upon   his    People — Points   of    Criticism    from    Outside — 


CONTENTS  V 

Theft  and  Recovery  of  Records — Contributions  for  City  Poor — Widening  of 
Cliff  Street— List  of  Communicants — Improvements  in  the  Church — Illness 
of  Rector— Thankfulness  for  his  Recovery— His  Sense  of  Pastoral  Responsi- 
bility-Portraits of  the  Bishops  and  Rector  ordered — Accident  to  Rector — 
Death  of  De  Witt  Clinton— Request  for  Notice  thereof  from  Common  Council 

Dr.     Milnor's     Sermon — Bp.     Hobart's     Refusal — Comments     of     Christian 

Journal— Sa^ndford's  Sketch  of  Church  Ruins— Anderson  Bequest— The 
Clerical  Association — Musical  Matters Page  77 

CHAPTER    V 
The  Milnob  Period 

(1830-1836) 

Dr.  Milnor's  Mission  to  England— Rev.  ^t  H.  Henderson  in  charge — The  objects 
of  this  ]\Iission— Societies  to  be  Represented— Departure  and  Arrival— The 
May  Anniversaries — Engagements  and  Journeyings — Arrival  Home — Generous 
Spirit  of  Vestry — Appreciation  of  Mr.  Henderson's  Services — Death  of  Bp. 
Hobart — The  Hobart-Milnor  Controversy — Union  Societies — American  Bible 
Society — American  Tract  Society — Spiritual  Blessings  in  Parish — Diocesan 
Obligations — City  JNIission  Society — Cholera  in  New  York — The  Rector  at 
his  Post — ^Missionary  Spirit  of  St.  George's — General  Convention  of  1835 — 
"  The  Church  is  the  Missionary  Society,"  Dr.  ]Milnor's  Suggestion — Separa- 
tion of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Work — Its  Partisan  Results — Dr.  Milnor  elected 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Comnjittee — Statement  to  the  Vestry — Its  action  thereon 
— Rev.  Jas.  W.  Cooke,  Assistant  INIinister — Dr.  ]Slilnor's  Overtaxed  Strength — 
Asks  Counsel  of  Vestry — Relinquishment  of  Secretaryship — Death  of  Bp. 
White Page  114 

CHAPTER   VI 

The  Milnor  Period 
(1836-1845) 

Interest  of  St.  George's  in  Theological  Education — Establishment  of  Gen.  Theol. 
Sem'y — St.  George's  Scholarship — Dr.  ]\Iilnor's  Trusteeship — The  Oxford 
Tracts — Institutions  at  Gambler — The  Milnor  Professorship — Names  of  In- 
cumbents— Rev.  ]SIr.  Cooke  to  remain  as  Ass't  Minister — Organ  and  Clock — • 
Van  Wagenen  Devise  declined  by  Vestry — St.  George's  Scholarships  in  Trinity 
School — Prot.  Epis.  Mission  Society — Cemetery  Project — Trend  of  Population 
Up-town — Portrait  of  Bp.  Inglis — Resignation  of  Mr.  Cooke — Rev.  P.  P. 
Irving,  Assistant — Waldron  Legacy — Rector's  Illness  and  Recovery — Services 
by  Rev.  W.  H.  Walter — Trial  of  Bp.  Onderdonlc — Dr.  Milnor  as  a  Witness — 
The  Problem  of  the  Do^vu-town  Church — Project  of  an  Up-town  Chapel — 
Sudden  death  of  Rector — Dr.  Stone's  Tribute — The  Funeral  and  Interment — 
Action  of  Vestry — Memorial  to  Trinity  Church  as  to  new  Chapel — Monument 
to  Dr.  ]Milnor Page  142 

CHAPTER    Vll 

The  Tyng  Period 

(1845-1851) 

Call  of  Dr.  Tyng — Letter  of  Acceptance — His  First  Sermon — Recognition  by 
Vestry  of  Mr.  Ir^ing's  Services — Settlement  in  the  Rectory — Project  of  New 
Sunday-school  Building — Overshadowed  by  Proposal  of  New  Site — Dr.  Tyng's 
Plan — Initial  Action  of  Vestry — Decision  for  Fourteenth  Street  Site — Otter  of 


vi  CONTENTS 

Peter  G.  Stuvvesant — Plans  adopted— Laying  of  Corner-stone — Schedules  of 
Property— Rev.  Dudley  A.  Tyng  Assistants-Rector's  Evening  Scr^'ice3  in 
Church,' Eighth  Street \ind  Astor  Place — Trip  to  Euroi^e- Services  in  Chapel 
of  University  of  New  York — New  S.  S.  Building — Assistance  for  Rector — 
Opposition  to  Plans  of  Rector  and  Vestry — Details  of  Rector's  Plan— Views 
of  the  Opposition— The  Decisive  Vestry  Election — R.  L.  WooUey's  Defama- 
tion of  ]\ector — Action  of  Vestry — Commission  appointed  by  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  Diocese — Its  Report — Death  of  Dr.  Stearns — Transfer  of  Govern- 
ment to  Stuyvesant  Square — ^Arrangements  for  opening  Sei-vice — Provision 
for  IMusic,  Sexton,  and  Sale  of  Pews — Resolutions  of  Thanks — Inauguration 
of  Worship — Expenditure  to  Date  advanced  by  Wm.  Whitlock — Sermon  by 
Dr.  Berrian — Tlie  Restrictions  on  St.  George's  Property — Negotiations  with 
Trinity  to  secure  their  Release — Friiitless  of  Results — Obstructive  Activities 
of  some  in  Beekman  Street  Congregation — Memorial  to  Vestry — Conferences 
Held — Agreement  Impossible — Appeal  of  Remonstrants  to  Trinity — Vestry 
Election — Generous  Proposition  of  Re-elected  Vestry — Counter  Proposition  of 
Dissentients — End  of  Negotiations — Obligations  Met  by  Temporary  Loans — 
Completion  of  S.  S.  Building — Consecration  of  Church — Attendance  of  Rector 
and  Vestry  of  Trinity — The  Pending  Application  for  Release  of  Restrictions — 
Action  of  Trinity  Vestry — Propositions  and  Counter  Propositions — Final 
Agreement — Details  in  Report  of  Committee — Action  of  Vestry — Report  of 
Special  Committee  on  Temporalities  and  Financial  Policy — Adoption  of  Re- 
port— Conveyance  of  Beekman  Street  Church  to  Cburch  of  Holy  Evangelists. 

Page  162 
CHAP1"ER    VIII 

The  Tyng  Period 

(1851-1865) 

Beginning  of  City  Missionary  Work  of  St.  George's  Sunday-schools — ^Rev.  Calvin 
C.  Wolcott — The  Rector's  Parochial  Activities  and  ]\Iethods — Brief  European 
Trip — Dr.  Heman  Dyer  becomes  Assistant — Additions  to  Rector's  Salary — 
R^siung  of  Ten  Years'  Work — Growth  of  Sunday-schools — Benevolent  Con- 
tributions— Sunday-school  Monograph — Completion  of  Spires — Clock  and  Bell 
— Mural  Tablets — Rector's  Trip  to  Holy  Land — Death  of  P.  G.  Arcularius — 
Rector's  Bereavement  in  Loss  of  his  First-born — Dr.  Dyer's  Resignation  as 
Assistant— His  Published  Tribute  to  Dr.  Tyng— Rev.  W.  F.  Paddock,  As- 
sistant— Rev.  Jas.  E.  Homans — Rev.  S.  H.  Tyng,  Jr. — Intention  of  Church 
of  Holy  Evangelists  to  abandon  old  St.  George's — Reorganization  as  Free 
Church  of  St.  George's  Chapel — Trustees'  Proposal  of  Sale — Protracted 
Negotiations  between  Trinity  and  St.  George's — Terms  of  Final  Amicable 
Settlement — Party  Feeling  rn  the  Church  and  Diocese — Controversy  between 
Dr.  T\Tig  and  Dr.  Berrian — The  Evangelical  Societies — Outbreak  of  Civil 
War — Staunch  Loyalty  of  Rector  and  Congregation — Dr.  Tyng's  Lftterances 
on  National  Days — Parish  Investments  in  Government  Securities — Lectures 
on  Preaching — Philadelphia  Divinity  School — Dr.  Dyer  again  Assistant — 
Rev.  W.  T.  Sabine— Rev.  T.  R.  Chipman— Rev.  U.  T.  Tracy— Rev.  Brockholst 
IMorgan — Rev.  C.  W.  Bolton — Rev.  C.  S.  Stephenson — Monograph  on  City 
Mission  Work — Changes  in  Congregation — Death  of  Joseph  Lawrence — Dr. 
Tyng's  Country  Home — Summary  of  Twenty  Years'  Work     .     .     .      Page  194 

CHAPTER   IX 

The  Tyng  Period 

(1865-1878) 

Burning  of  the  Church — Plans  for  Rebuilding — Irving  Hall  Secured  for  Services 
— Opening  of  Rebuilt  Church — Consecration  by  Bp.  Potter — Report  of  Build- 


CONTENTS  vii 

ing  Committee — Memorial  Windows  and  Gifts — Eights  of  Pew  Owners — Plan 
of  Pew  Valuation — Bp.  Potter's  Pastoral — Trial  of  Eev.  Dr.  S.  H.  Tyng,  Jr. — 
Action  of  Xew  York  Convention  on  Oflerings — Protest  of  Vestry — Rev.  W.  N". 
McVickar,  Assistant — Rev.  Morris  A.  Tyng — New  Organ — Dr.  Schramm  fol- 
lowed by  Mr.  Fleishhacker  in  German  Mission — Attendants  at  Chapels  not 
Voters  at  Church  Elections — Decoration  of  Chancel — Repairs  to  Side  Galleries 
— Completion  of  Quarter  Century  of  Rectorship — Financial  Items — Changes  in 
Clerical  Staff — Repairs  to  North  Spire — Fourteenth  Street  Chapel  Rebuilt — 
Rector's  Trip  to  Europe — Rev.  Dr.  Matson  Meier-Smith  Officiating — Validity 
of  St.  George's  Title — Finances  of  Corporation — Proposed  new  Church  Up- 
town— Outline  of  Plan  Adopted — Consideration  of  Plan  Suspended — Rev. 
Chas.  D.  Marston  called  as  Associate  Rector— Declined — Retrenchment  Neces- 
sary— Rector's  Thirtieth  Anniversary  Discourse — Death  of  Wm.  Whitlock,  Jr.; 
Adolphus  Lane;  Wm.  T.  Blodgett — Warning  Prosperity — Dr.  Walter  W. 
Williams  called  as  Associate  Rector — Relations  of  Vestry  to  Mission  Chapels 
— Dr.  Williams'  Letter  of  Acceptance — Provision  of  Salary  and  Furnished 
House — Division  of  Labor — Change  of  Hour  of  Service — Organ  Recitals — 
Illness  of  Rector — Action  of  Vestry — Rector's  Letter  in  Reply — Conference 
with  Wardens — Letter  of  Resignation — Accepted  and  Annuity  voted — Elected 
Rector  Emeritus — Resolution  of  Parish  IMeeting,  Easter  Tuesday — Dr. 
Williams  elected  Rector — Letter  of  Committee — His  Acceptance — Dr.  Tyng's 
Parting  Sermon — Resolutions  of  Special  Committee — Retirement  ended  Active 
]\Iinistry — Sympathy  of  Friends — Letter  of  Pp.  Bedell — Strength  inadequate 
for  Sustained  Effort — Pre-millennial  Conference — His  Country  House — His 
Peaceful  End — Action  of  Vestry — Review  of  His  ISIinistry — Funeral  Service — 
Address  of  Bishop  Lee — Interment  in  Greenwood- — Tribute  of  Bp.   Potter. 

Page  232 


CHAPTER    X 

The  Williams  Rectorship  and  Interim 

(1878-1882) 

Situation  of  Extreme  Difficulty — Need  of  Retrenchment — Consolidation  of 
Chapel  Work — Retirement  of  Rev.  Mr.  Fleischhacker  and  Rev.  Mr.  Buchanan 
— Communication  from  Messrs.  Philips,  Dominick,  and  Marshall — Rector's 
Statement — Steps  to  effect  Sale  of  Fourteenth  Street  Chapel — Rev.  J.  Rice 
Taylor,  Assistant — Sale  of  Fourteenth  Street  Property — Rector's  Plan  for 
Consolidation  Declined  by  officers  of  Sunday-school  of  Chapel — Bread  of  Life 
School  disbanded — Proposal  to  Sell  Nineteenth  Street  Chapel — Project  of  Boy 
Choir — Report  of  Music  Committee — Rev.  Newi;on  Perkins  Assistant — Revival 
of  Plan  for  Removal  Up-to^vn — Salaries  of  Clergy  Raised — Death  of  Wm.  A. 
Haines — Bach's  Music  by  Oratorio  Society — Death  of  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Curtis — 
Death  of  Ross  W.  W^ood — General  Convention  in  St.  George's — Notes  of  its 
Work — Popular  Evening  Services — Report  of  Committee  on  Up-town  Site — 
Closing  of  Chapel  of  Free  Grace — S.  N.  Penfield  Organist — Extra  Salary 
voted  to  Rector — Dr.  Williams'  Resignation — Action  of  Vestry — Rev.  Newton 
Perkins  in  Charge — Letter  of  Vestry  to  Retiring  Rector — Mr.  Perkins'  Duties 
— Steps  to  secure  Rector — Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Eccleston  called — Declined — Sale 
of  Nineteenth  Street  Property — Tender  of  Use  of  St.  George's  to  Church  of 
the  Incarnation — Financial  Statement — Call  of  Rev.  W.  S.  Rainsford — Rev. 
Hugh  Maguire  in  Charge — Death  of  Dr.  J.  B.  Reynolds — Insistence  on  Call 
to  Mt.  Rainsford — His  Visit  to  New  York — Interview  with  Vestry — Letter 
of  Rector-elect — Explanatory  Letter  of  Mr.  Chas.  Tracy,  Warden — ^Ratifying 
Action  of  Vestry .     .     .     Page  271 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    XI 

The  Rainsford  Period 

(1883-1893) 

New  Metlicxls  to  meet  New  Conditions — Chancel  Choir  and  Organ — Clergy 
House — Envelope  System — Rev.  R.  L.  Brydges,  first  Assistant — New  pulpit — 
Increased  Accommodation  for  Runday-school — Rev.  E.  F  Miles,  M.D. — J.  G-. 
Bierck,  organist — Services  and  Organizations — Rev.  Lindsay  Parker — Grati- 
fying Statistics — Characterizations  of  Rector — Avenue  A  Mission — St.  George's 
Chronicle — Growth  of  Parish — ^Mr.  ^Morgan's  Offer  of  a  Memorial  House — 
Advent  ;Mission — Dr.  Rainsford  on  ^Ministerial  Education — Increased  Income 
from  Envelope  Plan — Sunday-school  in  Irving  Hall — Large  Confirmation 
Class — Success  of  Free  Church  System — Old  Epiphany  House — Stanton  Street 
Mission — Lay  readers  set  apart  by  Bp.  Potter — Dedication  of  Memorial 
House — Increase  of  Endowment — Description  of  Memorial  House — Spires 
taken  down — Wm.  S.  Chester,  organist— Illness  of  Rector — General  Con- 
vention in  St.  George's — Fresh  Air  Work — ]SIr.  IMorgan's  stimulating  Offer 
to  increase  Endowment — Rector's  Presentation  of  the  Subject — Mr.  C.  J. 
Wills  in  charge  of  Stanton  Street  Mission — New  Alms  Basin — Sunday-school 
Superintendents — New  Plans  of  Study — Children's  Service — Clerical  Staff — 
Deaconess  House — Dr.  Rainsford  on  Social  Salvation — New  Choir  Room — 
Trade  School — Battalion  Club — Death  of  C.  J.  Wills — Final  disposition  of 
Stanton  Street  Mission Page  292 

CHAPTER    XII 

The  Raixsford  Period 
(1893-1905) 

Review  of  Ten  Years — Pen  Picture  of  ]\Iemorial  House — Dr.  Rainsford  on  Drink 
Problem — What  the  Church  should  do  for  the  Working-man — Sundry 
Parochial  Items — Death  of  W.  H.  Schieffelin — St.  Andrew's  Brotherhood 
Incident — Change  to  Advent  of  Annual  Election  of  Vestry — Death  of  Chas. 
E.  Tracy — Avenue  A  Mission  given  up — Handsome  Increase  in  Church  En- 
dowment— Parochial  Statistics — The  Ringing-  of  the  Bell — Meeting  of  all 
Parochial  Organizations — Interest  of  Rector  and  Vestrymen  in  Citizens' 
Union  Campaign — Reunion  of  the  Rector's  twenty-two  Assistants — Rector's 
Address  at  Bicentennial  Celebration  of  Trinity  Parish — St.  George's  Repre- 
sentation in  Spanish-American  War — Entire  Church  Property  repaired  and 
improved — House-to-house  Visitation — Lectures  to  Working-men — St.  George's 
Year  Books — Dr.  Rainsford  on  Changed  Conditions — New  Deaconess  House 
— Lots  in  N.  Y.  Bay  Cemetery — Parochial  Statistics  and  Activities — Rector's 
Twentieth  Anniversary — Dr.  Rainsford's  Address  in  Phila. — Improvements  in 
the  Church  Edifice — Consolidation  of  Missionary  Interests — BreakdoAvn  in 
Rector's  Health  and  Departure  for  Europe — Mr.  Birckhead,  Minister-in- 
charge — New  Trade  School  Building — Death  of  F.  H.  Betts — Resignation  of 
Dr.  Rainsford — Action  of  Vestry — Rev.  Hugh  Birckhead  elected  Rector — 
Reviews  of  Dr,  Rainsford's  work Page  330 

CHAPTER    XIII 

The  Birckhead  Rectorship 

(1906-1911) 

Letter  of  Acceptance — House  for  Superintendent  at  Rockaway  Beach — Camp 
Rainsford  at  Blackball — Missionary  Tliank  Offering — Theological  Education — 


CONTENTS  ix 

Special  Musical  Services— Death  of  John  Noble  Stearns— Gratifying  Statistics 
of  First  Year  of  New  Rectorship — Grand  Prix  awarded  at  Paris  Inter- 
national Exhibition  for  St.  George's  Socialized  Work — The  Book,  Admin- 
istration of  an  Institutional  Church — Neighborhood  Changes — Dr.  Dawson's 
Advent  Mission — "  The  Children  of  Bethlehem  "  musical  service — Celebration 
of  Hudson  and  Fulton  Anniversaries — Frederick  Danne  Bequest  for  Seaside 
Work — Gift  for  Camp  Rainsford — Rector's  Treatment  of  Pressing  Problems — 
His  Marriage  in  the  Church — Festival  and  Pantomime  on  St.  George's  Day — • 
Additional  Chancel  Organ  installed — Tuberculosis  Class — Modification  of 
Fresh  Air  Methods — Title  to  Rockaway  Beach — Laymen's  Missionary  Move- 
ment in  St.  George's — Interest  in  Missions — Decision  of  Vestry  to  publish  a 
History  of  the  Parish — Sketch  of  the  Writer — Arrangements  for  Centennial 
Celebration — Notification  and  Appeal  to  Parishioners  and  others — Parochial 
Statistics — Dr.  Birckhead's  View  of  the  Promise  of  the  Future  for  St.  George's 
Church Page  370 


PART    II 

BIOGRAPHICAL     SKETCHES 

The  Rectors 399 

Wardens  and  Vestrymen 431 

Assistant  Ministers 456 

APPENDICES 

I.  Wardens  and  Vestrymen 473 

II.  Assistant  Ministers 476 

III.  Clerks  of  Vestry       478 

IV.  Treasurers 478 

V.  Organists 479 

VI.  Parish  Clerks 480 

VII.  Sextons  and  Assistant  Sextons 480 

VIII.  Deaconesses  and  other  Women  Workers 481 

IX.  Inventory  of  Church  Plate,  Memorial  Windows,  Tablets,  etc.   .  482 

X.  Communicants  in  1822 484 

XL      Communicants  in  1845,  remaining  in  1868 490 

XII.  Parishioners  in  1846 490 

XIII.  Incumbents  of  St.  George's  Scholarship  in  Gen.  Theol.  Sem'y.  494 

XIV.  Subscribers  to  Chapel  Fund,  1911 495 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Seal  of  the  Corporation Title  page. 

St.  George's  Chapel,  1752 Frontispiece. 

Map  of  Montgomerie  Ward,  1765 24 

River  Front  with  St.  George's  Chapel,   1798     . 40 

St.  George's  Church  and  Rectory,   1815 68 

The  Rev.  James  INIilnor,  D.D 78 

The  Church  Bell,  1818 92 

The  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  1842 162 

St.   George's   Church,    Stuyvesant   Square 180 

St.  George's   Chapel  with  Church 200 

Chancel  of  the  Church,  1848-1865 200 

Views  of  Church  after  the  Fire,  1865 232 

Interior  View  of  the  Church,  1869 242 

The  Rev.  Walter  W.  Williams,  D.D 254 

The  Rev.  Stephen  H,  Tyng,  D.D 270 

The  Rev.  William  S.  Rainsford,  D.D 292 

Memorial  House  and  Rectory,  1888 312 

St.  George's  Church,  1890 316 

St.  George's  Choirs      : 328 

Deaconess  House,  1902 350 

Cadet  Battalion 354 

Church  Interior  with  Christmas  Decoration 360 

Evening  Trade  School  Building,   1905 362 

The  Rev.  Hugh  Birckhead,  D.D 370 

Fresh-air  Cottages 372 

Diagram  of  Rockaway  Beach   Property 387 

The  Rev.  Henry  Anstice,  D.D 390 

St.  George's  Church,  Interior 396 

Vignettes  of  the  Wardens  and  Vestrymen 432-458 

The  New  Memorial  Chapel 496 


INTEODUCTORY 

This  History  has  been  written  at  the  instance  of  the  Vestry  to 
emphasize  the  completion  of  the  first  century  of  the  corporate  ex- 
istence of  St.  George's  Church.  It  aims  to  embody  in  a  permanent 
form  the  various  events  which  have  contributed  to  make  its  annals 
noteworthy ;  to  sketch  the  careers  of  its  several  rectors,  its  wardens, 
vestrymen,  and  assistant  ministers;  to  make  accessible  in  printed 
form  letters  and  documents  worthy  of  preservation. 

To  compress  the  available  material  within  the  compass  of  a  con- 
venient volume,  without  omitting  items  essential  to  the  complete- 
ness of  the  story,  has  been  no  easy  task.  Original  and  documentary 
sources  of  information  have  been  carefully  examined,  and  every 
effort  made  to  insure  accuracy  of  statement  and  of  statistical  data. 
In  preparing  the  severely  condensed  outline  of  religious  beginnings 
in  the  Dutch  days,  the  many  published  histories  of  that  period  have 
been  studiously  consulted.  The  History  of  Trinity  Church,  by  Dr. 
Dix,  has  proved  fertile  in  facts  relating  to  the  establishment  of  that 
parish  and  of  its  eldest  daughter,  St.  George's  Chapel;  and  the 
courtesy  of  the  rector  and  the  comptroller  of  that  corporation,  the 
Eev.  Dr.  Manning  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Cammann,  in  affording  ready  access 
to  the  carefully  guarded  records  of  that  parish  and  contemporane- 
ous pamphlets,  is  gratefully  acknowledged.  For  the  history  of  St. 
George's  during  its  centennium  its  five  volumes  of  manuscript 
records  have  been  carefully  read,  and  facts  and  extracts  culled 
therefrom  to  blend  with  matter  from  other  reliable  sources  in  the 
construction  of  our  continuous  narrative.  Special  indebtedness  is 
due  to  the  Memoir  of  Dr.  Milnor,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  S.  Stone, 
and  to  the  Life  of  Dr.  Tyng  by  his  son,  C.  Rockland  Tyng,  for  facts 
relating  to  the  periods  they  cover;  and  for  the  later  periods  to  A 
Preacher's  Story  of  His  Work  by  Dr.  Rainsford,  the  Administration 
of  an  Institutional  Church  by  Dean  Hodges  and  John  Reichert,  and 
the  Year  Books  of  the  parish.  The  names  of  many  books  and  news- 
papers from  which  quotations  have  been  made,  the  quaint  spelling 
and  capitalization  of  that  day  being  preserved  in  the  excerpts,  will 
be  found  in  the  course  of  the  narrative,  but  many  others,  too  numer- 
ous to  catalogue,  have  yielded  facts  or  suggestions  as  to  some  line 
of  further  investigation. 


xiv  INTRODUCTOEY 

The  narrative  will  not  appeal  to  all  alike,  but  will  be  read  with 
varying  interest  in  its  several  parts.  Some  incidents  recorded  and 
some  views  expressed  the  writer  would  have  been  glad  to  have  modi- 
fied, but  the  truth  of  history  demands  a  candid  and  impartial 
presentation  of  material  facts;  and  a  truer  review  of  the  character 
and  work  of  those  whose  words  and  acts  are  chronicled  may  be 
presented  in  their  own  self-revealings  and  a  more  just  impression  of 
events  in  the  setting  afforded  by  original  documents.  The  sketches 
in  Part  II.  are  as  complete  and  accurate  as  diligent  inquiry  as  to 
salient  facts  has  rendered  possible.  It  would  have  been  a  pleasure 
to  make  mention  of  the  many  other  devoted  workers  of  the  past 
and  present  who,  in  their  several  spheres,  contributed  to  the  paro- 
chial results  achieved ;  but  to  have  done  so  would  have  overtaxed  the 
space  available. 

The  Publication  Committee'  of  the  vestry,  under  whose  auspices 
this  work  has  been  accomplished,  consists  of  the  rector  and  wardens, 
with  Mr.  William  Edmond  Curtis  as  chairman  and  Mr.  John  Reich- 
ert  as  secretary.  To  the  invaluable  and  indefatigable  labors  of  Mr. 
Reichert  are  due  the  gathering  of  a  large  mass  of  valuable  material, 
and  especially  the  assembling  of  that  notable  collection  of  photo- 
graphs from  which  the  portraits  and  illustrations  in  this  history  are 
reproduced.  Vignettes  of  eighty-two  out  of  the  whole  number  of 
ninety-eight  wardens  and  vestrymen  who  have  served  the  church  in 
the  one  hundred  years  will  be  found  in  connection  with  the  bio- 
graphical sketches. 

To  the  librarians  of  the  Society  Library,  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  the  New  York  Geneological  and  Biographical  Society,  the 
Public  Library,  Columbia  University,  and  particularly  to  Mr.  E.  H. 
Virgin,  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  for  courtesies  ex- 
tended, and  to  all  who  have  so  kindly,  directly  or  indirectly,  con- 
tributed facts,  data,  or  incidents,  which  add  to  the  interest  of  this 
volume,  the  author  tenders  his  most  cordial  thanks. 

It  may  not  be  unreasonable  to  hope  that  fuller  acquaintance  with 
its  honorable  past  may  induce  a  deeper  interest  in  the  welfare  and 
possibilities  of  the  St.  George's  of  to-day. 

Henry  Anstice, 


PART    I 


HISTORY  OF 
.      ST.  GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

CHAPTER    I 
RELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN    NEW    YORK 

(1623-1748) 

The  history  of  St.  George's  Church  has  interest  for  a  wider 
circle  than  those  immediately  connected  with  that  church  or  those 
whose  ancestors  participated  in  its  upbuilding  and  development. 
Its  influence  in  shaping  the  religious  life  of  the  community  has  been 
noteworthy  and  pronounced.  It  has  stood  always  for  ideas  and 
methods  well  defined,  which  in  their  zealous  application  could  not 
fail  to  achieve  results.  The  strongly  marked  insistent  personality 
of  each  of  its  great  rectors,  supported  as  they  were  by  a  devoted 
loyal  people,  endowed  St.  George's  with  a  prominence  and  power 
which  commanded  attention  and  respect.  However  men  might  differ 
from  the  views  and  principles  for  which  St.  George's  stood,  its 
leadership  was  recognized  and  felt. 

St.  George's,  having  now  completed  a  centenary  of  parochial  ex- 
istence, is  fittingly  observing  her  centennial  celebration  of  that  fact. 
But  the  annals  of  her  past  must  cover  a  much  longer  period  than 
a  century,  for  sixty  antecedent  years  of  chapel  life  must  add  their 
chronicles  of  strivings  and  achievements  to  those  of  the  centennium 
of  her  independent  being,  to  constitute  the  record  of  that  continuous 
life  and  honorable  activity  which  has  secured  for  St.  George's 
Church  a  significant  prestige  and  notable  position  in  the  history 
of  New  York. 

The  narrative  divides  itself  into  four  well-defined  and  charac- 
teristic periods, — that  of  the  Chapel  and  those  so  dominated  and 
imbued  by  the  forceful  personality  of  its  illustrious  rectors,  Doctor 
Milnor,  Doctor  Tyng,  and  Doctor  Rainsford. 

A  brief  review,  however,  of  the  yet  earlier  religious  history  of 
the  city  may  fitly  preface  the  annals  of  St.  George 's  Chapel  and  the 
Church. 


2  HISTORY   OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  earliest  attempt  at  permanent  settlement  on  Manhattan 
Island  was  made  in  May,  1623.  Prior  to  that  date,  since  Hudson's 
voyage  of  discovery  in  1609,  nothing  but  traders'  huts  had  been 
erected  on  the  island  and  no  adventure  undertaken  to  organize  a 
colony  or  cultivate  the  soil.  A  trading  charter  had  been  granted  to  ^ 
some  associated  merchants  by  the  States  General  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
public "  to  make  four  voyages  within  three  years,"  which  had 
expired  by  its  own  limitation  in  January,  1618.  But  the  Dutch 
Government,  perceiving  that  the  only  way  to  establish  ownership  of 
territory  in  the  New  World  was  to  secure  possession,  at  last  assented, 
after  long  discussion  and  much  heated  controversy,  to  a  project  of 
an  influential  body  of  its  enterprising  merchants;  and  the  West 
India  Company  was  organized  with  vaster  privileges  than  were 
ever  granted  to  a  private  corporation.  Under  their  charter,  which 
was  approved  in  its  final  form  by  the  States  General  June  21,  1623, 
they  were  empowered  to  exercise  the  functions  of  a  sovereign  state, 
* '  to  colonize  and  govern  and  defend  New  Netherland. ' '  They  could 
appoint  officials,  administer  justice,  contract  alliances,  erect  forts, 
and  carry  on  war  on  land  or  by  sea.  So  vigorously  prosecuted  was 
this  last-named  privilege  and  so  phenomenal  the  successes  of  its 
well-armed  fleet  in  capturing  Spanish  prizes,  and  thereby  bringing 
to  the  Company  immense  returns,  that  the  work  of  colonization  went 
on  but  haltingly.  But  not  entirely  unmindful  of  that  clause  in  its 
charter  which  provided  that  it  should  "  advance  the  peopling  of  the 
fruitful  and  unsettled  parts,"  it  manned  an  expedition  which 
reached  New  Amsterdam  in  May,  1623,  consisting  chiefly  of  Wal- 
loons, some  thirty  families,  under  Cornelis  Jacobson  May,  who  was 
to  remain  in  the  colony  as  its  first  Director.  These  people  were  of 
Gallic  origin  who  had  fled  to  Holland  from  religious  persecution 
and  inhabited  the  frontier  between  France  and  Flanders,  and  who 
now  desired  to  find  a  permanent  home  in  the  New  World.  Other 
adventurers  followed  in  the  succeeding  year  with  William  Verhulst, 
who  succeeded  May  as  the  Director,  but  whose  oJBficial  term  was  of 
a  similarly  short  duration.  To  Peter  Minuit,  however,  who  arrived 
May  6,  1626,  a  man  of  energy  and  experience,  is  due  the  credit  of 
superseding  the  simple  rule  of  his  predecessors  by  an  organized 
government,  in  which  he  had  the  assistance  of  a  Council  vested  with 
legislative  and  judicial  functions.  A  fort  was  erected  and  a  ware- 
house, and  with  fresh  arrivals  from  Holland  the  population  of  the 
island  soon  increased  to  some  two  hundred  people. 

The  earlier  colonists  brought  with  them  no  ordained  clergyman, 
but  Minuit  was  accompanied  by  two  ' '  Krankbesoeckers, "  or  "  com- 


RELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN   NEW    YORK  3 

forters  of  the  sick,"  whose  duties  included  reading  to  the  people 
from  the  Scriptures  and  instructing  them  in  the  Creeds.  In  August, 
1628,  however,  the  Rev.  Jonas  Michaelius,  accredited  to  his  work  by 
the  Synod  of  North  Holland,  established  the  first  "  form  of  a 
church  "  in  Manhattan,  Minuit  the  Director-General  being  /ap- 
pointed one  of  the  elders.  "  At  the  first  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  we  had,"  writes  Michaelius,  *'  full  fifty  communi- 
cants, not  without  great  joy  and  comfort  for  so  many  Walloons  and 
Dutch.  .  .  .  We  administer  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Lord  once 
in  four  months.  The  Walloons  and  French  have  no  service  on 
Sundays  otherwise  than  in  the  Dutch  language,  of  which  they  under- 
stand very  little." 

The  first  place  where  stated  religious  services  were  held  was  the 
loft  of  Francis  Molemaecker's  horse-mill  fitted  up  for  the  purpose, 
and  in  a  tower  connected  with  which  there  had  been  hung  some 
Spanish  bells  captured  at  Porto  Rico  in  the  preceding  year  by  the 
"West  India  Company's  fleet.  This  mill  was  located  on  the  north  side 
of  what  is  now  South  William  Street  between  Broad  and  William. 

When  Domine  Everardus  Bogardus  came  over  in  1633  with  the 
new  Director-General  Wouter  Van  Twiller,  he  "  would  have  none 
of  the  loft  of  the  horse-mill  in  which  his  predecessor  had  preached 
and  prayed,"  so  a  small  wooden  church  was  built  for  him  on  the 
shore  of  the  East  River,  which  was  at  that  time  the  present  line 
of  Pearl  Street,  between  Broad  and  Whitehall,  and  a  parsonage 
house  was  erected  for  him  near  by.  The  Domine  "  preached  with 
vigor  on  Sundays  and  on  week  days  kept  a  watchful  eye  on  civic 
affairs."  Many  of  Van  Twiller 's  acts  failed  to  meet  with  his  ap- 
proval, and  when  the  former  resented  his  criticisms  Bogardus  de- 
nounced him  from  the  pulpit  as  a  "  child  of  the  devil."  William 
Kieft  succeeded  him  as  Director  -  General  in  1638,  under  whose 
auspices  a  new  church  was  built  within  the  fort.  This  fort,  which 
under  successive  names  played  such  an  important  part  in  the  early 
history  of  the  city,  was  completed  in  1635  and  was  a  quadrangular 
structure  three  hundred  feet  long  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 
wide,  located  on  some  rising  ground  bounded  by  the  present  streets 
called  Whitehall,  Bridge,  State,  and  Bowling  Green.  It  inclosed 
a  guard-house  and  barracks,  the  public  offices,  and  a  house  for  the 
Director-General;  and  in  time  came  to  be  "  distinguished  not  less 
for  its  social  and  political  associations  than  for  its  characteristics  as 
a  military  post." 

The  suggestion  of  a  new  church  came  from  David  De  Vries,  a 
conspicuous  and  attractive  figure  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony.     He 


4  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

rallied  the  Governor  on  the  mean  appearance  of  the  little  church 
in  Pearl  Street  and  quoted  the  example  of  their  New  England 
neighbors  as  making  it  their  first  care  to  provide  a  suitable  meeting- 
house in  every  new  town  and  settlement  and  offered  himself  to  give 
one  hundred  guilders  toward  a  new  church.  The  Governor  was 
much  impressed,  but  was  at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  provide  sufficient 
funds  till  the  happy  thought  occurred  to  him  of  utilizing  the  ap- 
proaching marriage  festivities  of  the  stepdaughter  of  Domine 
Bogardus  as  a  fit  occasion  for  circulating  a  subscription.  The 
Domine  had  wooed  and  won,  some  years  before,  the  wealthy  widow 
of  Roelof  Jansen,  more  commonly  known  as  Anneke  Jans,  which 
marriage  had  enhanced  his  position  and  influence.  And  now  at 
the  wedding  of  his  wife's  daughter  a  subscription  paper  for  the 
new  church  was  passed  around  among  the  merry-hearted  guests, 
whose  generosity  was  stimulated  by  the  abundant  beverages  and  the 
rivalry  of  the  occasion,  and  handsome  sums  were  readily  subscribed. 
A  stone  church  was  erected  in  the  fort,  at  a  contract  cost  of  twenty- 
five  hundred  guilders,  seventy-two  feet  long,  fifty-five  wide,  and 
sixteen  high.  In  its  front  wall  on  a  marble  slab  was  inscribed, 
"  Anno  Domini  1642,  William  Kieft,  Director-General,  hath  this 
commonalty  caused  to  build  this  temple."  The  church  was  called 
St.  Nicholas,  in  honor  of  the  tutelary  saint  of  New  Amsterdam,  and 
here  for  half  a  century  a  succession  of  ministers  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  all  educated  in  the  universities  of  Holland,  con- 
ducted service  in  the  Dutch  language  until  1693,  when  the  new 
church  on  Garden  Street  (now  Exchaiige  Place)  was  ready  for 
occupancy. 

It  was  natural  and  fit  that  the  religion  of  the  national  Church 
of  Holland  should  thus  be  firmly  established  in  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  West  India  Company,  but  of  religious  toleration  there  was  none 
until  after  the  English  gained  possession  of  the  colony.  In  the 
articles  for  its  government  prepared  by  the  Company  at  New  Am- 
sterdam, August  30,  1638,  the  following  occurs : 

Religion  shall  be  tang'ht  and  preached  there  according  to  the  Confession 
and  formularies  of  union  here  publicly  accepted  in  the  respective  churches, 
with  which  every  one  shall  be  satisfied  and  content,  without,  however,  it 
being  inferred  from  this,  that  any  person  shall  be  hereby  in  any  wise  con- 
strained or  aggrie^'ed  in  his  conscience,  but  every  man  shall  be  free  to  live 
up  to  his  own  in  peace  and  decorum;  provided  he  avoid  frequenting  any 
forbidden  assemblies  or  conventicles,  much  less  collect  or  get  up  any  such. 

This  was  liberty  of  conscience  for  a  man's  own  personal  guidance, 
but  a  clear  denial  of  the  right  to  public  worship  save  in  the  Dutch 


KELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN    NEW   YORK  5 

language  in  the  Dutch  Church.  Similarly,  in  the  new  charter 
granted  to  the  Patroons  in  1640,  it  was  provided  that  "  no  other 
religion  was  to  be  publicly  tolerated  or  allowed  in  New  Netherlands 
save  that  then  taught  and  exercised  by  authority  in  the  Keformed 
Church  in  the  United  Provinces,"  for  the  inculcation  of  which  the 
Company  promised  to  support  good  and  fit  preachers,  schoolmasters, 
and  comforters  of  the  sick.  The  doughty  Peter  Stuyvesant,  who 
succeeded  Kieft  as  Director-General  in  May,  16-47,  proceeded  to  en- 
force these  regulations  "  with  all  the  zeal  of  a  bigot  "  as  soon  as 
his  attention  was  no  longer  engrossed  by  the  determined  and  in- 
cessant demand  of  the  Burghers  for  some  form  of  representative 
government,  which  had  theretofore  been  denied  them.  This  bitter 
struggle  with  the  Governor  culminated  in  an  appeal  to  the  States 
General  of  Holland,  resulting  in  a  decree  ordaining  municipal  gov- 
ernment in  New  Amsterdam,  with  a  city  charter  modeled  after  that 
of  the  cities  of  the  mother  country,  providing  for  a  schout  or 
sheriff,  two  burgomasters,  and  five  schepens,  which  elective  officers 
were  to  combine  both  legislative  and  judicial  functions;  which  gov- 
ernment was  inaugurated  in  1653.  A  Description  of  Neiv  Nether- 
land,  published  in  this  same  j'ear  by  Adrian  van  der  Donck,  one 
of  the  three  representatives  sent  to  Holland  in  1649  with  the  peti- 
tion for  municipal  government,  had  created  a  fresh  European  inter- 
est in  America,  and  men  of  many  nationalities  flocked  to  New 
Amsterdam,  anticipating  that  the  traditional  Dutch  policy  of  re- 
ligious toleration  prevailed  across  the  sea.  So  steady  was  the  migra- 
tion that  between  1653  and  1664  the  population  of  the  town  doubled, 
while  that  of  the  whole  province  increased  fourfold. 

In  1654  the  Lutherans  had  become  so  numerous  as  to  desire  to 
form  a  congregation,  but  the  two  Dutch  ministers  uniting  in  a 
protest  against  permitting  him  to  remain  in  New  Amsterdam,  the 
minister  who  had  been  sent  over  by  his  co-religionists  in  Holland 
was  arrested  and  deported  by  Stuyvesant,  and  some  Lutheran  par- 
ents who  refused  to  have  their  children  baptized  in  the  Dutch 
Church  were  fined  and  imprisoned.  xVn  appeal  to  the  "West  India 
Company  proved  fruitless  through  the  opposition  in  New  Amster- 
dam, which  was  based  on  the  ground  that  "  if  the  Lutherans  were 
tolerated  the  English  Anabaptists  and  Independents,  of  whom  there 
were  many  in  the  province,  would  demand  the  same  liberty,"  and 
the  Director-General  was  instructed  to  "  use  all  moderate  exertions 
to  allure  the  Lutherans  into  the  Dutch  Church  and  to  matriculate 
them  in  the  Reformed  religion. ' ' 

In  1656  the  Dutch  clergymen  in  New  Amsterdam  complained 


6  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

of  conventicles  held  at  Newtown  across  the  East  River  ' '  from  which 
nothing  could  he  expected  but  discord,  "confusion,  and  disorder  in 
Church  and  State  ' ' ;  and  Stuyvesant  issued  a  proclamation  for- 
bidding "  unauthorized  preachers  to  hold  conventicles  not  in  har- 
mony with  the  established  religion  as  set  forth  by  the  Synod  of 
Dort."  Preachers  and  people  alike  were  threatened  with  heavy 
penalties  for  violation  of  this  ordinance  which  Stuyvesant  had 
promulgated  "  to  promote  the  glory  of  God,  the  increase  of  the 
Reformed  religion,  and  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  country." 

Immediate  complaint  of  the  enforcement  of  this  invidious  law  was 
sent  to  Holland  and  called  forth  this  rebuke  to  the  intolerant  Di- 
rector : 

We  would  fain  not  have  seen  your  Worship's  hand  set  to  the  placard, 
against  the  Lutherans,  nor  have  heard  that  you  oppressed  them  with  the 
imprisonments  of  which  they  have  complained  to  us,  because  it  has  always 
been  our  intention  to  let  them  enjoy  all  calmness  and  tranquillity.  Where- 
fore you  will  not  hereafter  publish  any  similar  placards  without  our  pre- 
vious consent,  but  allow  all  the  free  exercise  of  religion  in  their  own  houses. 

This  spirit  of  religious  intolerance  was  the  more  deplorable  be- 
cause so  utterly  at  variance  with  the  hospitality  which  the  mother 
country  had  so  freely  shown  to  the  distressed  and  persecuted  for 
their  religion's  sake  who  had  been  refugees  in  Holland;  and,  further, 
for  the  reason  that  in  New  Amsterdam  were  many  English  who 
had  fled  from  the  insupportable  religious  tyranny  of  the  Puritans 
of  Massachusetts,  who,  having  crossed  the  sea  professedly  for  liberty 
to  worship  God  after  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences,  were 
zealous  in  denying  to  others  this  same  precious  liberty.  As  in  New 
England,  so  in  New  Amsterdam,  the  Quakers  were  especially  sub- 
jected to  bitter  persecution.  A  party  of  these,  of  whom  five  had 
been  expelled  from  Boston  within  the  previous  year,  sought  refuge 
in  New  Amsterdam.  Two  of  the  women  were  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned for  preaching  in  the  streets,  but  were  released  and  with 
the  others  sent  through  Hell  Gate  to  Rhode  Island,  ' '  where, ' '  as  the 
Dutch  ministers  reported  to  the  Holland  Classis,  ''  all  kinds  of 
scum  dwell,  for  it  is  nothing  else  but  a  sink  for  New  England  " — 
their  euphemism  for  an  asylum  for  the  persecuted.  One  of  the 
refugees,  however,  Robert  Hodgson,  desiring  to  settle  in  Long  Island, 
went  to  Flushing,  where  he  was  well  received ;  but  later,  for  preach- 
ing to  the  people  in  the  town,  was  haled  to  New  Amsterdam,  brought 
before  Stuyvesant  and  the  Council,  and,  without  being  allowed  to 
speak  in  his  own  defense,  was  sentenced  to  two  years'  hard  labor 
chained  to  a  wheelbarrow  with   a  negro  or  to  pay  six  hundred 


RELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN    NEW   YORK  7 

guilders.  Upon  failing  to  work  as  ordered,  he  was  subjected  to 
torturing  cruelties,  being  finally  released  through  the  merciful  in- 
tervention of  the  Governor's  sister  and  ordered  to  leave  the  prov- 
ince. A  leading  citizen  of  the  new  settlement  of  Rustdorp  (now 
Jamaica),  Henry  Townsend,  was  sentenced  to  pay  eight  Flemish 
pounds  or  to  be  flogged  and  banished  for  holding  Quaker  meetings 
in  his  house.  The  town  officers  of  Flushing,  where  Townsend  for- 
merly resided,  to  their  lasting  honor,  drew  up  a  spirited  remon- 
strance, declaring: 

The  law  of  lo^e,  peace,  and  liberty  forms  the  true  glory  of  Holland;  so 
love,  peace,  and  liberty,  extending  to  all  in  Christ  Jesus,  condemn  hatred, 
strife,  and  bondage.  .  .  .  We  desire  not  to  offend  one  of  His  little  ones 
under  whatever  form,  name,  or  title  he  appear,  whether  Presbytei-ian,  In- 
dependent, Baptist,  or  Quaker.  Should  any  of  these  people  come  in  love 
among  us,  therefore  we  cannot  in  conscience  lay  violent  hands  upon  them. 

Stuyvesant  's  reply  to  this  was  to  cashier  and  fine  the  sheriff,  throw 
the  town  clerk  in  jail,  suspend  the  justices  of  the  peace  from  office, 
and  visit  various  penalties  on  others  of  the  thirty  signers  of  the 
document.  These  severe  measures,  however,  did  not  check  the  spread 
of  Quakerism  even  in  Flushing,  for  later  one  John  Bowne  was  re- 
ported to  the  Director  as  holding  conventicles  in  his  house  for  the 
Quakers  of  the  surrounding  villages.  He  was  heavily  fined,  im- 
prisoned for  three  months,  and  finally  transported,  while  the  Di- 
rector issued  a  proclamation  against  any  religion  except  the  Dutch 
Reformed  "  in  houses,  barns,  ships  or  yachts,  in  the  woods  or  fields, 
under  the  penalty  of  fifty  guilders  for  the  first  offense,  double  for  the 
second  offense,  and  for  the  third  quadruple  with  arbitrary  cor- 
rection. ' ' 

But  the  banishment  of  Bowne  was  the  harbinger  of  a  better 
day  for  New  Netherland,  for  the  exile  so  effectively  "  manifested 
his  case  "  to  the  directors  of  the  company  at  Amsterdam  that  to 
Stuyvesant  from  across  the  sea  came  this  rebuke  from  his  superiors : 

Although  it  is  our  cordial  desire  that  similar  and  other  sectarians  may 
not  be  found  there,  yet  as  the  contrary  seems  to  be  the  fact,  we  doubt  very 
much  whether  rigorous  proceedings  against  them  ought  not  to  be  discon- 
tinued, unless  indeed  you  intend  to  check  and  destroy  your  population, 
which  in  the  youth  of  your  existence  ought  rather  to  be  encouraged  by  all 
possible  means.  Wherefore  it  is  our  opinion  that  some  connivance  is  use- 
ful, and  tliat  at  least  the  consciences  of  men  ought  to  remain  free  and 
unshattered.  Let  every  one  remain  free  as  long  as  he  is  modest,  moderate, 
his  political  conduct  in'eproachable,  and  as  long  as  he  does  not  offend  others 
or  oppose  the  government.  Such  have  been  the  maxims  of  prudence  and 
toleration  by  which  the  magistrates  of  this  citj^  have  been  governed;  and  the 


8  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

result  has  been   that   the   oppressed   and   persecuted   from   evei*y   country 

have  found  among  us  an  asylum.    Follow  in  the  same  steps  and  you  will  be 

blessed. 

So  persecution  ceased  in  New  Amsterdam. 

Meanwhile  the  civic  affairs  of  the  colony,  for  many  reasons,  went 
on  from  bad  to  worse.  There  was  war  with  the  savages,  constant 
disputes  with  the  authorities  of  Connecticut  on  questions  of  juris- 
diction over  Westchester  and  the  territory  eastward,  restlessness 
under  the  Dutch  government  on  the  part  of  English  settlers  in 
western  Long  Island;  and  when,  to  meet  the  pressing  exigencies  of 
his  government,  the  Director-General  drew  upon  the  West  India 
Company  at  Amsterdam  for  four  thousand  guilders,  so  low  had  the 
public  credit  fallen  that  he  could  iind  no  one  to  cash  his  draft  until 
he  pledged  four  of  the  brass  guns  in  the  fort  as  security  for  re- 
payment. 

Meanwhile  also  the  government  of  Great  Britain  prepared  to  press 
its  claim  to  the  entire  territory  occupied  by  the  Dutch.  This  claim 
was  based  upon  the  facts  that  the  region  was  pre-empted  by  the 
English  on  the  ground  of  Cabot's  discovery  of  the  mainland  in 
1497,  and  that  King  James  in  1606,  three  years  before  the  explora- 
tion by  Henry  Hudson  of  the  river  which  bears  his  name,  had 
covered  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Dutch  by  overlapping  patents 
issued  to  two  separate  companies.  It  was  vastly  important  to  con- 
solidate the  scattered  strength  of  the  English  settlements  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland  on  the  south  and  New  England  on  the  north, 
between  which  lay  the  Dutch  settlement  of  New  Amsterdam,  The 
British  Government  had  never  conceded  to  the  Dutch  settlers  a  title 
to  the  soil,  but  had  regarded  them  as  interlopers  settled  upon  Eng- 
lish territory;  and  in  their  earlier  trading  and  attempts  at  settle- 
ment the  Dutch  had  protested  that  they  made  no  claim  to  permanent 
possession.  King  Charles  II.  issued  to  his  brother  James,  Duke  of 
York  and  Albany,  March  12,  1661,  a  patent  covering  the  entire 
territory  from  a  point  in  New  England  to  Delaware  Bay.  The  new 
proprietor  lost  no  time  in  fitting  out  an  expedition  to  take  pos- 
session of  New  Amsterdam.  As  Lord  High  Admiral  of  the  English 
Navy  he  detached  for  the  purpose  four  ships,  mounting  in  all  ninety- 
two  guns  with  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  regular  soldiers  and 
their  oflScers.  Col.  Richard  Nichols  was  appointed  to  command 
the  expedition  and  to  be  the  Duke's  Deputy  Governor  when  in  pos- 
session. Associated  with  him  as  royal  commissioners  were  Sir  Robert 
Carr,  Col.  George  Cartright,  and  Samuel  ]\Iaverick,  who  were  fur- 
nished with  detailed  instructions.     The  fleet  appeared  first  on  the 


RELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN    NEW   YORK  9 

New  England  coast,  and,  after  the  commissioners  had  declared  civil 
and  religious  liberty  at  Boston,  proceeded  to  New  Amsterdam,  whose 
harbor  they  entered  on  the  19th  of  August.  Governor  Stuj^-esant 
was  in  no  position  to  resist  the  demanded  capitulation;  the  people 
with  good  reason  were  utterly  disaffected  toward  the  West  India 
Company ;  even  the  Dutch  Domine,  Megapolensis,  protested  against 
"  any  further  opposition  to  the  will  of  God  ";  the  inevitable  hap- 
pened on  the  8th  of  September,  1664 ;  Fort  St.  Nicholas  became  Fort 
James  and  New  Amsterdam  became  New  York. 

In  the  articles  of  capitulation  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  Dutch 
inhabitants  were  abundantly  safeguarded,  their  prejudices  respected, 
and  their  continued  use  of  the  old  church  within  the  fort  was  guar- 
anteed. It  was  most  amicably  arranged  that  after  the  usual  Sunday 
morning  service,  conducted  by  the  Dutch  Domine,  the  English  chap- 
lain should  read  the  Church  of  England  service  there  before  the 
Governor  and  garrison.  As  an  illustration  of  the  greater  liberty  of 
conscience  and  worship  which  was  fostered  by  the  new  English 
regime,  the  following  letter  from  Governor  Nichols  to  the  Dutch 
local  authorities  is  of  interest : 

Gextlemex:  T  have  lately  received  letters  from  the  Duke  Wherein  it 
is  particularly  sigiiifyed  unto  me  that  his  Royall  Higliness  doth  approve  of 
ye  Tolleration  given  to  ye  Lutheran  Chui'ch  in  these  partes.  I  doe  there- 
fore expect  that  you  live  friendly  and  peaceably  with  those  of  that  pro- 
fession giving  them  no  disturbance  in  ye  exercise  of  their  religion,  as  they 
shall  receive  noe  countenance  in  but  on  ye  contrary  strictly  answer  any 
disturbance  they  shall  presume  to  give  unto  any  of  you  in  your  divine 
worsliip. 

Fort  James  in  New  York  this  loth  day  of  October,  1666. 

At  a  later  date  the  French  Protestants  and  the  Presbyterians 
applied  for  charters  for  church  organizations. 

In  August,  1668,  Col.  Francis  Lovelace  succeeded  Governor 
Nichols,  and  it  was  during  his  administration  that  a  Dutch  fleet 
of  twenty-three  ships  with  sixteen  hundred  troops  on  board,  war  at 
the  time  existing  between  Holland  and  England,  on  the  28th  of 
July,  1673,  sailed  into  the  harbor  and  took  possession  of  New  York. 
Its  name  was  changed  to  New  Orange,  Anthony  Colve  was  ap- 
pointed Governor,  and  the  local  magistrates  were  instructed  "  to 
take  care  that  the  Reformed  Christian  Religion  be  maintained  in 
conformity  to  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht  without  permitting  any  other 
sects  attempting  anything  contrary  thereto."  But  the  Dutch  su- 
premacy was  brief,  for  on  the  16th  of  February,  1674,  peace  was 
concluded  between  England  and  Holland,   and  by  the  treaty  of 


10  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Breda  New  York  was  surrendered  to  the  British  Crown.  Major 
Edmond  Andros  was  appointed  Governor,  and  among  his  instruc- 
tions for  the  government  of  the  colony  was  the  following : 

You  shall  permit  all  persons  of  what  Religion  soever,  quietly  to  inhabit 
within  the  precincts  of  your  jurisdiction,  without  giving  them  any  dis- 
turbance or  disquiet  whatever,  for,  or  by  reason  of  their  differing  opinion 
in  matter  of  Religion;  Provided  they  give  no  disturbance  to  the  publique 
peace  nor  doe  molest  or  disquiet  others  in  the  peaceable  exercise  of  their 
religion. 

Although  the  first  use  of  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England 
was  in  the  chapel  of  the  fort  after  the  surrender  of  New  Amster- 
dam to  the  English  in  September,  1664,  the  names  of  whatever 
chaplains  may  have  officiated  have  not  come  down  to  us.  The  first 
chaplain  of  whom  we  have  any  record  was  Eev.  Charles  Wolley, 
who  sailed  from  England  May  27,  1678,  whose  ministry  was  ac- 
ceptable but  of  brief  continuance.  He  was  followed  by  others  whose 
names  have  been  preserved,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  their  labors 
were  directed  toward  or  effective  in  building  up  a  following  for  the 
Church  of  England  among  the  people  of  the  town.  The  Governor 
succeeding  Andros  was  Col.  Thomas  Dongan,  who  proved  himself  to 
be  a  most  able  executive.  As  government  chaplain  he  brought  with 
him  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Gordon,  but  being  himself  a  Roman  Catholic 
he  had  an  English  Jesuit  priest  as  his  private  chaplain,  who  was 
carried  on  the  pay-roll  as  a  "  reader."  It  was  under  his  just  and 
wise  administration  that  a  representative  body  elected  by  the  people 
was  joined  with  the  Governor  and  Council  in  the  administration 
of  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  This  body  at  its  first  session,  October 
7,  1683,  guaranteed  religious  liberty  '*  to  all  people  and  persons 
who  professed  faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ." 

The  accession  of  the  Duke  of  York  to  the  throne  as  James  II. 
February  6,  1685,  vested  the  province  of  New  York  in  the  Crown 
of  England,  and  was  signalized  by  the  appointment  of  Sir  Edmond* 
Andros  as  Governor-General  of  his  Majesty's  "  province  of  New 
York  as  of  the  other  Colonies  of  our  said  territory  and  Dominion  of 
New  England."  But  this  wise  plan  for  the  consolidation  of  the 
interests  of  the  English  colonies,  especially  in  ^dew  of  the  warlike 
aggression  of  the  Canadian  French  and  their  Indian  allies,  was 
short-lived  in  its  operation.  The  New-Englanders  did  not  want 
consolidation,  and  upon  the  arrival  of  the  news  of  the  flight  of 
King  James  and  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  they  promptly 
imprisoned  Governor  Andros  and  members  of  his  Council  and  each 
of  the  New  England  colonies  revived  its  old  charter  and  former 


RELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN    NEW   YORK  11 

government.  In  New  York  grave  disorders  resulted  from  the  un- 
certainties of  the  situation,  and  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  Francis 
Nicholson,  upon  hearing  the  news  from  England  and  tidings  of  the 
imprisonment  of  Andros  in  Boston,  hastily  departed  from  New  York. 
The  supreme  authority  was  thereupon  exercised  ad  interim  in  behalf 
of  AVilliam  and  Mary  by  Jacob  Leisler,  a  militia  captain  and  mer- 
chant of  high  standing,  in  the  face,  however,  of  much  factious  op- 
position. The  newly  commissioned  Governor,  Col.  Henry  Sloughter, 
at  last  arrived  in  New  York  March  19,  1691,  with  a  royal  renewal 
of  the  assurance  of  "  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  persons  excepting 
Papists."  He  allied  himself  with  the  faction  antagonistic  to  Leisler, 
signed  the  death  warrant  of  that  unfortunate  and  misjudged  patriot, 
and  himself  died  after  an  incumbency  of  only  four  months  in  the 
gubernatorial  office  July  23,  1691. 

With  his  successor.  Col.  Benjamin  Fletcher,  who  arrived  August 
29,  1692,  the  real  life  of  the  Church  of  England  in  New  York  began. 
The  royal  instructions,  which  were  a  reiteration  of  those  given  to 
his  predecessor  and  which  he  set  about  to  execute  with  diligence, 
clearly  contemplated  the  Establishment  of  the  Church  of  England  in 
the  province,  as  the  following  extract  shows : 

You  shall  take  care  that  God  Almighty  be  devoutly  and  duly  served 
thi'oughout  yr  Government,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  it  is  now  es- 
tablished, read  each  Sunday  &  Holy-Day  and  the  blessed  Sacrament  admin- 
istered according  to  the  Rites  of  the  Church  of  England.  You  shall  be 
carefull  that  the  churches  already  built  there  be  well  and  orderly  kept  and 
more  built  as  the  Colony  shall  by  God's  blessing  be  improved,  and  that 
besides  a  competent  Maintenance  to  be  assigned  to  the  Minister  of  each 
Orthodox  Churcli,  a  convenient  house  be  built  at  the  Common  Charge  for 
each  Minister  and  a  competent  proporeion  of  land  assigned  to  him  for  a 
Glebe  and  exercise  of  his  industry.  .  .  .  Our  Will  &  Pleasure  is  that  noe 
Minister  be  Preferred  by  you  to  any  ecclesiasticall  Benefice  in  that  our 
Province,  without  a  Certificate  from  the  Right  Reverend  the  Bishop  of 
London  of  his  being  comformable  to  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the 
Church  of  England  and  of  a  good  life  and  conversation. 

At  this  time  there  were  in  New  York  four  regular  congregations — 
the  Dutch  and  the  English  in  successive  occupation  of  the  old  church 
in  the  fort,  the  Lutherans,  and  the  French.  The  congregation 
organized  in  1687  as  L'Eglise  des  Refugies  Franeais  a  la  Nouvelle 
York,  but  whose  name  was  subsequently  changed  to  L'Eglise  du 
Saint  Esprit,  had  erected  a  small  church  near  the  fort.  The  Lu- 
therans had  built  for  themselves  a  church  outside  the  "  land-poort," 
the  gate  where  Broadway  met  the  city  wall. 

The  Dutch  congregation  in  December,  1691,  had  concluded  that 


12  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

"  the  church  in  the  fort  was  decaying  and  was  no  longer  fit  for 
public  worsliip  without  going  to  great  and  unnecessary  expense." 
They  accordingly  took  order  for  the  purchase  of  a  site  about  80X175 
feet  on  Garden  Street  (now  Exchange  Place)  for  which  they  paid 
fifty-four  pounds  and  proceeded  to  erect  a  building  thereon.  Until 
its  completion,  however,  they  continued  worshiping  alternately 
with  the  English  in  the  old  church  in  the  fort  as  heretofore.  The 
Governor,  however,  when  the  Dutch  moved  into  their  new  church 
(which,  to  anticipate  somewhat,  they  generously  shared  with  the 
English  congregation  pending  the  erection  of  Trinity  Church),  in 
his  address  to  the  Assembly  December  12,  1693.  stated  that,  "  King's 
Chapel  in  the  fort  being  ready  to  fall  down,  to  the  danger  of  many 
lives,  I  thought  it  convenient  to  pull  it  down."  It  was  rebuilt,  how- 
ever, for  the  use  of  the  garrison,  the  Rev.  John  Miller  being  the 
chaplain. 

But  on  the  completion  of  Trinity  Church  in  1698,  the  church  in 
the  fort  became  secularized  in  its  use,  the  officials  and  soldiers  attend- 
ing the  services  at  Trinity,  where  the  chaplain  assisted  the  rector. 
In  Governor  Hunter's  time,  because  of  his  inveterate  hostility  to 
Rev.  Mr.  Vesey,  the  church  in  the  fort,  which  had  again  become 
dilapidated,  was  refitted,  and  the  chaplain,  the  Rev.  John  Sharp, 
was  ordered  to  re-establish  w^orship  there,  which  the  Governor  at- 
tended, and  others  who  sympathized  with  him  in  his  dislike  of  the 
rector.  It  later  fell  again  into  neglect,  and  the  church  in  the  fort 
after  experiencing  the  vicissitudes  of  a  century,  was  finally  destroyed 
by  fire  March  18,  1741. 

Governor  Fletcher  now  addressed  himself  with  earnestness  to  the 
difficult  and  trying  task  of  inducing  the  Asseml^ly  to  co-operate  Avith 
him  in  carrying  out  his  instructions  as  to  establishing  the  Church 
by  providing  a  proper  maintenance  for  the  ministry.  A  "  Min- 
isterial Maintenance  "  bill  had  been  proposed  by  his  predecessor  in 
April,  1691,  but  the  Council  had  failed  to  endorse  it.  A  bill,  how- 
ever, was  introduced  into  the  Assembly  in  IMay,  but  was  rejected 
and  another  ordered  to  be  brought  in.  Nothing  having  thus  been 
accomplished  under  the  preceding  administration,  Governor  Fletcher, 
in  October,  1692,  urged  the  matter  upon  the  attention  of  the  As- 
sembly, but  they  allowed  the  session  to  close  without  any  specific 
action.  When  the  next  Assembly  convened  in  September,  1693,  the 
Governor  in  his  address  used  the  following  language : 

I  recommended  to  the  former  Assembly  the  selling  of  an  able  Ministry, 
that  the  worship  of  God  may  be  observed  among  us  for  I  finde  that  gi'eat 
&  fii'st  duty  very  much  neglected;  lett  us  not  forgett  that  there  is  a  God 


RELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN    NEW   YORK  13 

that  made  us  who  will  protect  us  if  we  serve  him.     This  has  been  alwayes 
the  first  thing  I  have  recommended,  yet  the  last  in  your  consideration. 

After  much  heated  discussion  a  bill  was  finally  passed  which 
provided  that  "  there  shall  be  called,  inducted,  and  established  a 
good  sufficient  Protestant  minister  to  officiate  and  have  the  care  oF 
souls;  in  the  city  of  New  York,  one;  in  the  County  of  Richmond, 
one;  in  the  County  of  Westchester,  two;  in  Queens  County,  two." 
For  the  maintenance  of  the  New  Y^ork  minister  one  hundred  pounds 
was  ordered  to  be  "  assessed,  levied,  collected,  and  paid,"  and  the 
freeholders  were  to  be  summoned  annually  to  choose  ten  vestrymen 
and  two  church  wardens,  and  the  wardens  were  directed  to  pay  the 
stipends  in  quarterly  instalments  to  the  ministers  whom  the  vestry 
had  called. 

In  the  first  vestry  elected  under  this  act  there  were  only  three 
members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  it  is  no  occasion  for  sur- 
prise, therefore,  that,  after  voting  to  levy  the  required  tax  of  one 
hundred  pounds,  they  recorded  "  ye  opinion  of  the  Board  that  a 
dissenting  minister  be  called  to  ofiQciate  and  have  the  care  of  souls 
for  this  City  as  aforesaid."  The  claim  of  the  Rev.  John  Miller, 
who  was  chaplain  to  the  troops  in  the  fort  and  the  only  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England  in  the  city,  to  be  inducted  into  the  "  living  " 
of  New  York  was  therefore  disregarded,  although  favored  by  the 
Governor  for  the  place.  The  vestry  allowed  a  year  to  elapse  without 
further  action  and  were  superseded  by  a  new  vestry  in  January, 
1695,  in  which  only  one  Churchman  had  membership.  Under  a 
threat  from  the  Governor  of  legally  prosecuting  them,  under  the 
terms  of  the  Act  for  neglect  of  duty,  this  vestry  finally  met  January 
26,  1695,  and  "  called  Mr,  William  Vesey,  nemine  contradicente, " 
which  indicates  that  all  did  not  vote.  The  Governor  was  not  satis- 
fied ;  neither  were  his  opposers,  and  nothing  resulted  from  this  elec- 
tion. In  April  the  vestry  or  a  portion  of  them  petitioned  the  As- 
sembly to  define  their  powers,  and  the  Assembly  gave  it  as  "  the 
opinion  of  this  House  that  the  vestrymen  and  church  wardens  have 
power  to  call  a  Dissenting  Protestant  minister,  and  that  he  is  to  be 
paid  and  maintained  according  as  the  Act  directs."  A  third  city 
vestry  was  elected  in  January,  1696,  one-half  of  whom  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England. 

Meanwhile  the  minister,  elders,  and  deacons  of  the  Dutch  Church 
had  petitioned  the  Governor,  June  19,  1695,  to  incorporate  them  as 
a  body  politic,  which  petition  was  favorably  acted  upon  and  an 
ample  charter  with  liberal  provisions  was  granted.  May  11,  1696. 


14  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Sundry  members  of  the  Church  of  England  now  bestirred  them- 
selves to  petition  the  Governor,  March  19,  1696,  for  a  license  to  pur- 
chase a  piece  of  land  and  erect  thereon  a  church  by  voluntary  con- 
tributions. Governor  Fletcher  cordially  favored  the  project  and 
issued  a  proclamation  authorizing  the  solicitation  of  funds.  This 
enterprise  seems  to  have  stimulated  the  city  vestry  at  last  to  some 
definite  action,  and  on  the  2d  of  November  they  recorded : 

Wee  ye  Church  Wardens  and  Vestry  men  elected  by  virtue  of  ye  said 
Act  having  read  a  Certificate  under  the  hands  of  tlie  Reverend  Mr.  Samuel 
Myles,  Minister  of  ye  Chureli  of  England  in  Boston  in  New  England,  and 
Mr.  Gyles  Dyer  and  Mr.  Benjamin  Mountfort,  Church  Wardens  of  ye 
said  Churcli  of  ye  Learning  and  Education,  of  the  Pious,  Sober  and  Re- 
ligious behaviour  and  conversation  of  Mr.  William  Veasy  and  of  his  often 
being  a  Communicant  in  the  Receiving  ye  most  holy  Sacrament  in  the  said 
Church  have  called  the  said  Mr.  William  Veazy  to  officiate  and  have  ye  care 
of  Souls  in  this  Citty  of  New  York.  And  ye  said  Mr.  William  Veazy 
being  sent  for,  and  acquainted  with  the  Proceedings  of  this  board  did  re- 
turn them  his  hearty  thanks  for  their  gi'eat  favour  and  affection  shewed 
unto  him,  and  Assure  them  that  he  readily  Accepted  their  Call  and  would 
with  all  Convenient  Expedition  Repair  to  England  and  Apply  himself 
to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  London  in  order  to  be  ordained  according  to  the 
Litergy  of  ye  Church  of  EIngland,  and  would  return  to  his  Church  here  by 
the  first  Convenient  opportunity. 

It  was  the  same  Mr.  Vesey  who  had  been  named  in  the  abortive 
resolution  of  the  second  city  vestry  in  January,  1695.  He  was  a 
man  of  talent  and  blameless  life,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  though 
without  "  any  orders,"  to  use  Chaplain  Miller's  phrase  in  describ- 
ing him,  he  had  exercised  his  gift  in  preaching  in  various  places; 
at  Sag  and  at  Hempstead  in  Long  Island  and  in  King's  Chapel, 
Boston,  where  he  was  studying  theology  under  the  rector,  Rev. 
Samuel  Miles,  when  he  was  called  to  New  York  as  the  city  min- 
ister. That  the  voyage  to  England  was  expensive  and  perilous  may 
well  account  for  much  of  the  irregularity  in  these  and  succeeding 
years  which  prevailed  in  Church  matters  generally  in  the  early 
religious  history  of  the  country,  the  ministrations  without  Orders, 
and  the  unavoidable  omission  of  administration  of  the  Sacraments. 
That  Mr.  Vesey,  however,  might  be  speedily  and  regularly  ordained, 
it  was : 

Ordered  that  the  Justices  and  Vestrymen  doe  direct  a  Warrant  to  the 
Church  Wardens  for  to  pay  Mr.  William  Veazy  (called  to  officiate  as 
Minister  of  this  Citty)  the  sum  of  Ninety-five  pounds.  Cun-t.  Money  of 
New  Yorke,  itt  being  ]\Ioney  now  in  their  hands  Raised  by  virtue  of  an 
Act  of  Genl  Assembly  for  ye  Maintenance  of  a  Minister,  and  itt  being  to 
be  lent  to  the  said  Mr.  William  Veaz}^  towards  the  Defraying  of  his  Ex- 


RELIGIOUS     BEGINNINGS     IN    NEW   YORK  15 

penses  in  his  Voyage  for  England  for  ye  proeui'eing  his  Ordination  accord- 
ing to  ye  Litiu-gy  of  ye  Church  of  England  and  that  he  give  bond  for  the 
same. 

On  repairing  to  England  he  was  honored  by  the  University  of 
Oxford  with  the  degree  of  M.A.,  was  ordered  deacon  July  25th,  and 
ordained  priest  August  2,  1697,  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  returning 
at  once  to  New  York. 

Meanwhile  the  promoters  of  the  new  Church,  who  now  described 
themselves  as  the  "  Managers  of  the  Affairs  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land," petitioned  the  Governor  for  an  Act  of  Incorporation.     The 
desired  charter  was  promptly  granted,  as  had  been  that  desired  by 
"  The  Eeformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  "  in  the  preceding  year. 
It  bears  date  May  6,  1697,  and  incorporated  Trinity  Church  under 
the  name  of  "  The  Kector  and  Inhabitants  of  our  said  City  of  New 
York  in  Communion  of  our  Protestant  Church  of  England  as  now 
established  by  our  Laws."     It  recognized  the  Rector  of   Trinity 
Church  as  the  "  good  and  sufficient  Protestant  minister  "  provided 
for  in  the  Assembly  Act  of  1693  and  entitled  him  to  the  annual  in- 
come of  one  hundred  pounds  which  the  City  churchwardens  and 
vestrymen,  yearly  elected  under  said  Act,  were  to  le\'y5  assess,  collect, 
and  pay  over  to  the  said  Rector.    The  land  described  in  the  Charter, 
whose  possession  was  granted  and  confirmed  to  the  Corporation,  was 
"  three  hundred  and  ten  feet  on  Broadway  northward,  thence  west 
to  Hudson's  River,  thence  southward  along  the  said  river  three  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five  feet,  and  thence  by  the  line  of  our  garden  east- 
ward to  the  place  of  beginning."    In  addition  to  this,  the  Governor 
granted  a  lease  to  Trinity  Church  for  seven  years  of  the  land  known 
as  the  King's  Farm,    The  Charter  named  the  Bishop  of  London  as 
the  first  Rector,  but  provided  for  a  resident  priest  in  the  parish  ' '  to 
be  preacher  and  assistant  to  the  said  Rector  in  the  celebration  of 
the  Divine  Offices."    Mr.  Vesey,  being  provided  with  proper  letters 
from  the  Bishop  of  London,  was  inducted  into  the  parish  by  Gov- 
ernor Fletcher  on  Christmas  Day,  1697,  the  ceremony  being  per- 
formed in  the  new  Dutch   Church  in   Garden  Street,   the   Dutch 
Domines,  Selyns  of  New  York  and  Nucella  of  Kingston,  being  among 
the  subscribing  witnesses.     This  was  the  civil  ceremony  based  upon 
the  call  of  the  City  Vestry  wliich  had  been  confirmed  by  that  Body 
on  the  preceding  evening  and  had  primary  reference  to  "  the  legal 
status  of  the  incumbent  and  to  the  temporalities  of  the  cure."     It 
was  on  the  13th  of  March,  1698.  that  at  the  opening  ser\ace  in  the 
now  completed  Trinity  Church  Mr.  Vesey  "  did  declare  before  his 
congregation  his  unfeigned  assent  and  consent  to  all  and  everything 


16  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

contained  and  prescribed  in  and  hy  the  book  entitled  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  etc.,"  and  read  the  certificate  of  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  London  of  date  August  2,  1697,  that  he  had  personally  before 
him  subs('ril)ed  the  acknowledgment  and  declaration  according  to 
the  Act  of  Conformity,  etc. ;  in  testimony  whereof  the  Governor  set 
his  hand  and  seal  to  a  document  reciting  the  fact  March  25,  1698. 
The  Dutch  congregation,  pending  the  completion  of  Trinity  Church, 
had  granted  the  alternate  use  of  their  building  to  Mr.  Vesey  and 
his  people.  Most  friendly  relations  existed  between  the  two  con- 
gregations, as  testified  by  Domine  Selyns  in  one  of  his  official  reports 
to  the  Amsterdam  Classis.  The  Dutch  felt  under  obligations  to  the 
Governor  for  granting  their  very  liberal  charter,  and  the  English 
felt  under  obligations  to  the  Dutch  for  allowing  the  City  Vestry 
to  call  Mr.  Vesey.  It  was  a  far  echo  of  this  old  friendly  feeling 
which  in  1779  reciprocated  this  courtesy  of  the  Dutch  by  the  tender 
of  the  use  of  St.  George's  Chapel  when  the  Dutch  Church  had  been 
appropriated  by  the  king's  troops  for  a  hospital;  of  which  specific 
mention  will  be  made  hereafter. 

The  original  edifice  was  of  small  size  and  simple  character,  with 
a  gallery  on  the  south  side  for  the  use  of  the  Governor  and  Council 
which  was  subsequently  extended,  and  a  private  pew  in  the  south- 
east corner  was  erected  by  Governor  Fletcher  for  his  family  at  his 
own  expense,  which  he  later  deeded  to  the  Church.  The  great  bible 
and  other  books  were  also  contributed  by  him.  The  communion- 
plate  and  furniture  were  secured  through  the  good  offices  of  the 
Bishop  of  London,  and  from  him  was  received  later  a  valuable 
donation  of  books  for  the  use  of  the  parish.  This  communion- 
plate  was  that  which  had  been  used  in  the  church  in  the  fort,  but 
was  now  no  longer  needed  there,  owing  to  discontinuance  of  the 
services.  It  remained  in  the  care  and  use  of  Trinity  Church  until 
in  1710  there  came,  as  the  vestry  record,  "  from  her  most  sacred 
Majesty,  Queen  Anne,  her  royal  and  particular  gift  of  a  noble  set 
of  plate  for  our  Communion  Table,  for  which  we  are  infinitely 
obliged  to  her  Majesty  for  that  bounty." 

The  bright  outlook  for  the  Church  was,  however,  soon  clouded, 
as  the  Earl  of  Bellomont,  Governor  Fletcher's  successor  in  April, 
1697,  was  openly  indifferent,  if  not  hostile,  to  its  growth  and  pros- 
perity. The  validity  of  the  Church's  charter  was  attacked  and  his 
antipathy  to  the  Rector  was  intense  and  implacable.  He  induced 
the  Assembly  to  vacate  the  lease  of  the  King's  Farm  which  his 
predecessor,  whom  he  cordially  hated,  had  granted  to  the  Church. 
But,  under  the  stress  of  his  violent  antagonisms  to  prominent  polit- 


RELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN    NEW   YORK  17 

ical  leaders  in  the  Colony,  his  persecution  of  Domine  Dellius  and 
his  animosities  toward  the  Church,  he  died  in  March,  1701.  The 
arrival  of  Lord  Cornbury  as  his  successor  in  May,  1702,  was  hailed 
by  the  clergy  of  the  Province  as  an  auspicious  event.  He  renewed 
the  lease  of  what  was  now  the  Queen's  Farm,  as  Anne  had  come 
to  the  throne  in  March,  1702,  and  the  Assembly  passed  an  Act, 
June  27,  1704,  "  granting  certain  privileges  and  powers  to  the 
Rector  and  Inhabitants  of  the  City  of  New  York  of  the  Communion 
of  the  Church  of  England  as  by  law  established."  Under  the  pro- 
visions of  this  Act  and  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Governor, 
the  farm  was  ceded  to  the  Church  in  fee  by  royal  patent  November 
20,  1705.  The  property  which  under  this  patent  w^as  given  to  the 
Church  was  made  up  of  three  separate  parcels.  The  first  of  these 
was  originally  known  as  the  West  India  Company  farm  and  was 
"  to  be  tilled  for  the  benefit  of  the  Company's  servants."  It  em- 
braced the  land  lying  approximately  between  what  are  now  Fulton 
and  Chambers  streets  and  from  Broadway  to  the  Hudson  Elver. 
After  the  conquest  by  the  English,  being  government  property,  it 
became  the  Duke's  farm;  and  subsequently,  when  the  Duke  of  Y'ork 
became  king,  it  was  known  as  the  King's  Farm.  North  of  this 
property  lay  a  tract  of  about  sixty-two  acres  belonging  to  Anneke 
Jans,  who  afterward  became  the  wife  of  Domine  Bogardus,  extend- 
ing from  Chambers  to  Christopher  Street,  and  which  was  called  the 
Domine 's  Bouwerie.  Under  the  provisions  of  her  will  this  farm  was 
sold,  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  her  children  by  her  first  husband,  and 
purchased  by  Governor  Lovelace,  through  whom  it  became  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Duke ;  and,  having  been  consolidated  with  the  adjoining 
tract  above  mentioned,  the  whole  was  henceforth  known  as  the  Duke 's 
and  later  as  the  King's  Farm.  The  grant  of  Queen  Anne  included 
a  third  piece  of  Crown  land  lying  to  the  south  of  the  lot  on  which 
Trinity  Church  stood  and  known  as  the  Queen's  Garden,  extending 
from  "  Broadway  on  the  east  to  low- water  mark  on  the  west."  It 
may  be  added  that  after  the  Revolution  the  first  Constitution  of  the 
State  of  New  Y^ork,  that  of  1777,  which  declared  its  independence 
of  the  British  Crown,  ordained  "  that  nothing  in  this  Constitution 
contained  shall  be  construed  to  affect  any  grants  of  land  within  this 
State  made  by  the  said  King  or  his  predecessors  or  to  annul  any 
charters  to  bodies  politic  by  him  or  them  or  any  of  them  prior  to 
October  14,  1775."  Various  attempts  have  been  persistently  made 
to  impeach  the  title  of  Trinity  Church  to  the  property  or  portions 
of  it  thus  granted  which  have  been  wholly  unsuccessful,  and  its 
possession  by  this  venerable  corporation  has  been  a  perennial  source 


18  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

of  blessing  in  upbuilding  and  maintaining  the  interests  of  religion 
both  in  this  city  and  elsewhere. 

No  historical  sketch  of  any  portion  of  the  Church  in  this  country 
can  fail  to  make  grateful  recognition  of  the  all-important  part  in  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  churches  and  their  clergy,  which 
was  borne  by  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
Foreign  Parts  "  commonly  known  as  "  The  Venerable  Society  "  or 
the  "  S.  P.  G. "  This  organization  was  chartered  June  16,  1701, 
its  declared  objects  being  "  to  provide  learned  and  orthodox  min- 
isters for  the  administration  of  God's  Word  and  Sacraments  among 
the  King's  loving  subjects  in  the  plantations  and  colonies  beyond 
the  seas  and  to  evangelize  the  aboriginal  inhabitants."  It  was  the 
work  of  this  magnificent  Society  which  planted  the  Church  in  all  the 
northern  colonies,  and  to  it,  therefore,  in  large  degree  the  Church 
in  this  country  "  is  indebted  under  God  for  her  first  foundation 
and  a  long  continuance  of  nursing  care  and  protection."  The 
voluminous  correspondence  of  the  missionaries  of  this  Society  which 
has  been  carefully  preserved  is  a  mine  of  historical  information 
in  the  language  of  the  men  who  labored  and  prayed  amid  the 
difficulties  and  discouragements  incident  to  their  pioneer  work. 
Transcripts  of  these  and  other  documents  relating  to  the  Church 
in  the  original  colonies,  preserved  in  the  collection  of  MSS.  at  Lam- 
beth and  Fulham  palaces,  were  made  under  the  direction  of  the 
Historiographer  of  the  American  Church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  L. 
Hawks,  in  a  number  of  ponderous  folios  which  are  stored  in  the 
archives  of  the  General  Convention  at  the  Church  Missions  House 
in  this  city  and  a  few  of  which  have  been  published.  The  Rector 
of  Trinity  "  was  not  directly  connected  with  the  Society,  but  his 
assistants  were  its  missionaries  and  his  catechists  and  lay  readers 
were  supported  by  appropriations  from  its  treasury." 

The  growth  of  the  Church  was  steady  but  slow,  for  the  adversaries 
were  many.  Conditions  were  thus  described  by  the  Vestry  in  a  letter 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury: 

It  is  but  of  late  years  our  Church  had  its  being  and  is  yet  but  very  tender 
the  gi-eatest  part  of  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Province  are  of  the  Dutch  and 
French  Reformed  Religion  or  Dissenters  &  Quakers,  &  but  3  County's 
within  this  province  would  receive  a  Church  of  England  minister,  to  wit 
Queen's  County  West  Chester  and  Richmond.  &  of  these  County's  but  the 
smallest  number  goe  to  the  worsliip.  With  much  adoe  we  have  overcome 
the  Debt  we  had  contracted  by  the  building  of  our  Chm-ch  and  Steeple,  wch 
latter  is  designed  for  a  Ring  of  Bells,  the  walls  are  of  good  thickness  and 
foundation  above  30  foot  square,  it  is  got  so  high  as  the  ridgepole  of  the 


KELIGIOUS    BEGINNINGS    IN    NEW   YORK  19 

Church,  but  for  want  of  money,  we  were  forced  to  cover  it  there  and  for 
the  present  have  hung  in  a  Bell  of  6sd  weight,  the  free  gift  of  his  Lordp 
of  Loudon.  The  Bishop  of  Bristol  in  the  year  1699  sent  us  over  so  many 
stones  as  did  i:»ave  all  the  Isles  of  our  Church.  Col.  Fletcher  who  was 
Governor  of  this  Province  from  1692  to  1698  gave  the  first  Life  and  being 
to  it  and  Avas  a  large  Benefactor  out  of  his  private  fortune.  His  successor 
in  the  Government  (on  the  contraiy)  endeavored  to  ruin  it,  altho'  he  some 
times  came  hither  to  receive  the  holy  Sacrament  which  we  hope  God  has 
forgiven  him,  the  Viscount  Combury  next  to  him,  during  his  Govemmt 
has  endeavored  not  only  to  restore  but  advance  the  Churches  Interest  and 
made  in  this  Grant  wch  by  the  accot  we  had,  from  liis  successor  the  Lord 
Lovelace  is  sliaken  and  rendered  disputable,  until  her  most  Sacred  Maty 
shall  be  graciously  pleased  to  re  establish  us  therein.  Col.  Nicholson  has 
likewise  been  a  Benefactor  to  our  Church  of  the  first  Rank.  A  thousand 
pounds  will  be  required  to  finish  the  Steeple  which  we  propose  for  our  next 
task,  &  are  about  making  up  that  sum.  There  is  much  more  wanted,  vizt, 
a  Dwelling  house  for  our  Minister  and  a  Vestery  Roome  with  a  Ring  of 
Bells  and  a  Sett  of  Organs.  What  we  cannot  effect  ourselves  we  shall  leave 
to  God  Almighty's  good  Providence  and  must  recommend  the  work  to  our 
Posterity'.  We  want  also  a  couijle  of  large  Branches  of  Candlesticks  to 
hang  in  the  Body  of  our  Church,  Communion  Plate,  Books  and  Vestments, 
and  these  last  we  are  credibly  informed,  have  been  designed  for  us  by 
the  late  King  William,  and  since  by  her  present  Maty,  but  by  what  ill 
fate  or  accident,  we  know  not,  we  are  still  without  them. 

When  Governor  Hunter  arrived,  June  16,  1710,  the  troubles  of 
the  Rector  and  the  Corporation  became  so  aggravated  and  unbear- 
able that  Mr.  Vesey  felt  forced  to  make  a  journey  to  England  to 
lay  the  case  of  the  Church  before  the  home  authorities.  The  an- 
tipathy of  the  Governor  toward  the  Rector  had  been  bitter  and  unre- 
lenting and  manifested  itself  in  a  wide  variety  of  ways.  Mr,  Vesey 's 
representations  to  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  however,  resulted 
not  only  in  his  being  sustained  at  every  controverted  point,  but 
he  returned  invested  with  the  dignity  and  powers  of  "  Commissary 
of  the  Bishop  of  London,"  in  whose  jurisdiction  lay  the  churches 
in  America.  The  Governor,  though  with  ill  grace,  yielded  in  ac- 
quiescence; the  withheld  salary  was  paid,  and  the  difficulty  which 
had  been  created  by  the  Governor's  restoration  of  the  old  Chapel 
in  the  fort,  apparently  to  provide  a  place  of  worship  for  malcontents 
beyond  the  direct  jurisdiction  of  the  Rector,  was  composed  by  the 
Governor's  appointing  one  of  the  assistants  of  the  parish,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Jenny,  to  be  chaplain  in  the  fort  for  the  garrison  only, 
while  assisting  the  rector  otherwise  at  the  Church,  the  Governor 
himself  going  thereafter  ' '  regularly  to  the  parish  church  with  great 
propriety  and  decorum." 

The  first  newspaper  in  New  York,  called  The  Gazette,  appeared 


20  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

in  1725.  The  printer  and  publisher  was  an  Englishman  who  had 
come  over  with  William  Penn  in  1682,  hut  after  ten  years  in  Phila- 
delphia, on  Governor  P^'letcher's  invitation,  moved  to  New  York  and 
became  Printer  to  the  Crown.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  was 
first  printed  in  New  York  by  this  William  Bradford  about  1704, 
for  at  that  time  the  church  wardens  were  instructed  to  loan  him 
thirty  or  forty  pounds  for  six  months  without  interest,  Chaplain 
Sharpe  going  security  for  him,  to  purchase  paper  for  the  purpose. 
He  was  a  man  of  character  and  good  repute,  a  vestryman  of  Trinity 
from  1703  to  1710,  and  his  remains  lie  in  the  churchyard  not  far 
from  Broadway. 

Alterations  and  enlargements  of  tlie  Church  edifice  during  a  series 
of  years  were  made  prior  to  1737,  wlien  the  Vestry  ordered  a  further 
addition  on  the  north  and  south  sides  "  conformable  to  the  new 
building  at  the  east  end  of  the  church."  "  A  Sclieam  for  making 
an  organ  for  Trinity  Church,"  laid  before  the  Vestry  by  John  G. 
Klemm,  of  Philadelphia,  was  approved  June  1,  1739,  but  it  was  two 
years  before  the  organ  was  completed.  IMr.  Klemm 's  son  was  im- 
ported from  Philadelphia  to  be  the  organist.  It  was  placed  in  the 
west  gallery  and  tlie  pipes  were  ''  gilded  with  gold  leaf."  A  plan 
for  an  "  Alter  Piece  "  produced  by  Mr.  Kobert  Elliston  was  ap- 
proved, and  the  wardens  were  instructed  to  send  to  England  "  for  a 
new  Sett  of  Furniture  for  the  Communion  Table,  Pulpit,  and  Read- 
ing Desk:  of  the  best  English  Crimson  Flower  Damask:  with  a  plain 
silk  ffringe  Lining  and  Tassels."  "  Three  branches  "  were  also 
ordered  and  a  small  branch  for  the  pulpit  and  another  for  the 
reading-desk,  all  the  branches  to  be  gilt.  Smith's  History  of  New 
York  gives  this  description  of  the  Church  after  its  final  enlargement 
in  1737 : 

It  stands  very  pleasantly  upon  the  Banks  of  Hudson's  River,  and  has  a 
large  Cemetery  on  each  side,  inclosed  in  the  I'ront  by  a  painted  paled 
Fence.  Before  it  a  long  Walk  is  railed  off  from  the  Broad-way,  the  ]ileas- 
antest  Street  of  any  in  the  whole  To\\ti.  The  builduig  is  about  148  Feet 
long,  including  the  Tower  and  Chancel,  and  72  feet  in  Breadth.  The 
Steeple  is  175  Feet  in  Height,  and  over  the  Door  facing  the  River  is  the 
following  inscriiDtion :  .  .  . 

The  church  is,  within,  ornamented  beyond  any  other  Place  of  publiek 
Worship  amongst  us.  The  Head  of  the  Chancel  is  adorned  with  an  Altar- 
piece,  and  opposite  to  it,  at  the  other  End  of  the  Building,  is  the  Organ, 
The  Tops  of  the  Pillars  which  support  the  Galleries,  are  decked  with  the 
gilt  Busts  of  Angels  winged.  From  the  Ceiling  are  suspended  two  Glass 
Branches,  and  on  the  Walls  hang  the  Arms  of  some  of  its  princii)al  Bene- 
factors,    The  Allies  are  paved  with  flat  Stones. 


RELIGIOUS     BEGINNINGS     IN    NEW   YORK  21 

The  long  and  checkered  rectorship  of  Doctor  Vesey  was  now 
wearing  its  close,  but  the  growth  of  the  Church  in  the  forty-nine 
years  over  which  it  had  extended  is  attested  by  the  following  extract 
from  an  official  letter  to  the  secretary  of  the  S.  P.  G.  under  date 
of  November  27,  1745 : 

Revel.  Sir,  here  I  must  beg  leave  to  observe  to  you  that  in  the  year  of 
Our  Lord  1697  I  was  ordained  by  Dr.  Compton  the  then  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, and  sent  here  by  his  Lordship  to  officiate  at  Trinity  Church  in  the 
City  of  New  York;  at  which  time,  besides  this  Church  and  Chapel  in  the 
port,  one  church  in  Pliiladelphia,  and  one  other  in  Boston,  I  don't  remem- 
ber to  have  heard  of  one  building  erected  to  the  public  worship  of  God 
on  this  northern  continent  of  America,  from  Maryland,  where  the  Church 
was  established  by  a  law  of  the  Provinces,  to  the  east-most  bounds  of  Nova 
Scotia,  wliich  I  believe  in  length  is  800  miles.  And  now  most  of  these 
provinces  or  colonies  have  many  churches,  which,  against  all  opposition, 
increase  and  flourish,  under  miraculous  influence  of  Heaven.  I  make  no 
doubt  it  will  give  a  vast  pleasure  to  the  Honble  Society  to  observe  the 
wonderful  blessing  of  God  on  their  pious  cares  and  endeavours  to  promote 
the  Christian  Religion  in  these  remote  and  dark  corners  of  the  world;  and 
the  great  success  that  by  the  concomitant  power  of  tlie  Holy  Ghost  has 
attended  the  faithful  labours  of  their  Missionaries  in  the  conversion  of  so 
many  from  vile  errors  and  wicked  practices  to  the  faith  of  Christ  and  the 
obedience  of  Ms  Gospel. 

The  Rector's  last  attendance  at  a  vestry  meeting  was  on  April 
3d,  and  he  died  July  11,  1746.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Barclay  was 
elected  to  the  rectorship  October  17th  and  was  inducted  into  office 
by  the  Governor,  George  Clinton,  on  the  following  Sunday.  The 
former  assistant,  Rev.  Richard  Charlton,  left  the  next  month  to 
undertake  the  missionary  charge  of  St.  Andrew's,  Staten  Island,, 
and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Auchmuty  was  appointed  in  his  place. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD 

(1749-1811) 

St.  George's  Chapel  was  the  second  saored  edifice  erected  in 
New  York  for  the  celebration  of  public  worship  according  to  the 
Use  of  the  Church  of  England.  It  owed  its  origin  to  the  pressing 
and  realized  necessity  for  largely  increased  church  accommodation 
to  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  population,  and  particularly  in 
view  of  the  pronounced  drift  toward  the  ' '  English  Church  ' '  on  the 
part  of  the  younger  members  of  the  old  Dutch  families.  For  be  it 
remembered  that  the  worship  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  was 
still  conducted  in  the  Dutch  language;  and  it  was  not  until  1764 
that  the  insistent  demand  within  that  Church  for  a  minister  who 
could  officiate  in  both  languages  was  met  by  the  appointment, 
through  the  Amsterdam  Classis,  of  a  Scotchman  from  Zeeland, 
the  Rev.  Archibald  Leslie.  But  meanwhile  the  accessions  from  the 
Dutch  Church  had  become  so  numerous,  and  the  seating  capacity 
of  Trinity  Church  so  utterly  inadequate,  that  the  proposition  to 
build  a  Chapel  of  the  parish  Church  met  with  universal  approval. 

The  initiative  formal  action  was  taken  April  15,  1748,  when  the 
Vestry  recorded  its 

opinion  That  it's  become  absolutely  Necessary  to  build  a  Chappell  of  Ease 
to  Trinity  Church,  and  being  Desirous  to  Build  the  same  where  it  will  be 
most  Commodious  and  Convenient  to  the  CongTegation  in  Generall — ordered, 
that  the  Chiu'ch  Wardens  (with  others  named)  be  a  Committee  to  Consider 
where  will  be  the  most  proper  place  for  Building  the  said  Chappell,  and 
to  hear  the  Sentiments  of  the  Congregation,  with  their  several  Reasons,  and 
to  make  their  Report  to  this  Board  with  all  convenient  Expedition. 

A  divergence  of  opinion  speedily  developed  as  to  the  best  location 
for  the  proposed  chapel.  A  "  site  adjojoiing  to  the  garden  of  the 
late  Doctor  Dupuy  "  was  authorized  to  be  purchased  on  the  3d 
of  May,  1748,  but  nothing  came  of  this  proposition.  On  the  4th 
of  July  a  committee  was  authorized  "  to  purchase  Six  Lotts  of 
Ground  fronting  Nassau  Street  and  Fair  Street  [now  Fulton]  from 


THE    CHAPEL    PERIOD  23 

David  Clarkson,  Esq.,  on  such  terms  as  they  shall  think  Reasonable, 
to  Build  a  Chappell  of  Ease  to  Trinity  Church  thereon."  The  com- 
mittee, a  week  later,  reported  to  the  vestry  that  they  *'  had  Agreed 
with  Mr.  Clarkson  for  the  said  lotts  for  five  hundred  pounds  to 
be  paid  in  a  Year."     But  the  committee  further  reported  that 

Severall  Persons  Residing  in  Montgomerie  Ward  [which  was  that  part  of 
the  city  lying  east  of  William  Street]  appearing  and  alledging  that  the 
lotts  of  Coll.  Beekman,  fronting  Beekman's  and  Van  Cliff's  Sts.,  would 
be  more  commodious  for  building  said  Chappell  on,  proposed,  that  if  the 
Vestry  would  Agree  to  the  Building  of  the  Chappell  there,  the  Inhabitants 
of  Montgomerie  Ward  Would  Raise  Money  among  themselves  sufficient 
to  purchase  the  ground;  and  that  if  Mr.  Clarkson  insisted  on  the  perform- 
ance of  the  Agreement  with  him  for  his  Lotts,  they  would  take  a  Conveyance 
for  them  and  pay  the  purchase  Money. 

So  generous  a  proposition  could  hardly  fail  of  acceptance,  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  examine  the  title  to  the  property  and 
plans  for  the  new  Chapel  were  ordered  to  be  procured. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Vestrj'  January  23  d  it  was 

order'd  That  the  Committee  Appointed  to  Inspect  the  Title  of  Coll.  Beek- 
man to  the  Land  near  the  Swamp,  have  power  to  Agxee  with  the  said  Coll, 
Beekman  for  the  purchase  thereof,  for  Such  Sum  as  they  think  fitt,  and 
that  they  jDrepare  Deeds  to  be  by  liim  Executed  for  the  Conveying  of  the 
same  to  '  the  Rector  and  Inliabitants  of  Trinity  Church ' ;  and  when  such 
purchase  shall  be  so  made,  that  they  agree  with  James  Burling  for  ex- 
changing part  of  the  said  Ground  for  a  Lott  of  Ground  belonging  to  the 
said  James  Burling  adjoyning  thereto,  or  such  part  thereof  as  they  can 
agree  with  Him  to  Exchange  for  the  Same  on  such  Terms  and  for  such 
Consideration  as  to  them  shall  seem  Meet. 

At  the  same  meeting  the  committee  "  produced  severall  plans," 
and  it  was  unanimously  resolved  "  that  the  Chappell  of  Ease  be 
built,"  and  the  committee,  reinforced  by  two  new  members,  was 
authorized  to  ''  agree  with  workmen  and  purchase  the  Materialls 
and  agree  on  the  plan  for  Building. ' ' 

At  the  vestry  meeting  March  23,  1749,  the  committee  reported 
that  the  deeds  had  been  executed  and  that  Captain  Aspinwall  had, 
on  behalf  of  the  inhabitants  of  Montgomerie  Ward,  paid  six  hundred 
and  forty-five  pounds  for  the  same.  An  adjoining  lot  was  later 
purchased  of  John  Killmaster,  for  which  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  pounds  was  paid.  A  member  of  the  vestry,  Robert  Crommelin, 
was  the  architect  whose  plan  had  been  adopted  and  under  whose 
supervision  the  work  of  construction  proceeded,  but  so  slowly  that 
the  chapel  was  not  ready  for  occupancy  until  July  1,  1752.  The 
method  of  erection  was  by  partial  contracts,  for  as  late  as  January 


24  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

14,  1751,  a  notice  appeared  in  The  New  York  Gazette,  revived  in 
The  Weekly  Post-Boy, 

That  a  Cornmittee  of  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Chui-eh,  will  meet  every 
Friday  at  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  at  the  house  of  William  Cook,  near 
the  City  Hall,  to  ti-eat  with  such  Workmen,  Carpenters  and  Masons,  as 
will  undertake  the  building  and  finishing  the  Galleries  and  Pews,  and  other 
inside  work  of  St.  George's  Cliapi^el. 

Considerable  taste  and  skill  were  displayed  in  the  building,  which 
was  impressive  through  ''  its  spaciousness,  solidarity,  and  beauty." 
It  was  faced  with  hewn  stone  and  had  a  tiled  roof.  The  length 
exclusive  of  the  chancel  was  ninety-two  feet  and  its  breadth  seventy- 
two.  The  steeple,  which  was  irregular  in  shape,  rose  to  the  height 
of  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  feet.  The  pulpit,  reading-desk,  and 
chancel-rail  were  constructed  of  mahogany,  which  was  given  by  a 
sea  captain  who  had  lost  his  mainmast  in  a  storm  and  had  rigged 
up  a  temporary  one  in  a  West  India  island,  where  he  had  taken 
refuge  and  where  mahogany  was  the  only  lumber  available  and 
which  he  contributed  to  the  Church  as  a  thank-offering  on  his  re- 
turn to  New  York.  Among  the  personal  gifts  which  were  made 
toward  the  building  of  the  chapel  were  one  of  ten  pounds  from  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  one  of  one  hundred  pounds  from 
Sir  Peter  Warren,  coupled  with  the  request  "  that  a  pew  might  be 
appointed  for  Sir  Peter  and  his  family  in  case  they  should  come  to 
this  country."  Mr.  Isaac  Latouche  presented  a  marble  font,  for 
which  "  generous  present  "  the  thanks  of  the  Vestry  were  voted  to 
him  February  4,  1751.     (See  note  on  page  48.) 

In  preparation  for  the  occupancy  of  the  chapel  the  Vestry  April 
1,  1752,  ordered  that  the  pews  be  let  for  one  year  to  the  highest 
bidder  on  Monday,  April  13th,  and  at  a  subsequent  meeting  Wednes- 
day^  July  1st,  was  appointed  as  the  day  for  the  formal  opening,  of 
which  notice  was  ordered  to  be  given  in  Trinity  Church,  the  two 
preceding  Sundays;  and  the  Rector,  Colonel  Robinson  and  Mr. 
Mayor,  were  designated  as  a  committee  "  to  waite  on  his  Excellency 
the  Governor  and  Inform  him  sometime  before  Notice  be  Given  in 
the  Church." 

The  contemporary  account  of  the  occasion  was  published  in  the 
Post-Boy  of  July  6th,  but  the  original  draft,  having  been  slightly 
altered  and  abridged,  the  sender  of  the  same  expressed  his  mind  to 
the  editor  in  the  following  letter,  which  appeared  in  the  next  week's 
issue  and  which  is  here  reproduced,  with  the  accompanying  apology, 
incidentally  illustrating  the  difference  in  tone  and  temper  between 


v^^^^ 


THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD  25 

the  editor  of  the  olden  time  and  the  independent  conductors  of 
modern  journalism : 
Mr.  Parker. 

The  following  Account  of  the  Opening  of  St.  George's  Chapel,  was  sent 
to  the  press,  last  Saturday  a  Week,  to  he  inserted,  at  the  Request  of  many  of 
your  Readers  in  your  Gazette;  hut  to  their  great  Surprize,  when  the  Paper 
came  out,  on  Monday  following,  they  found  the  Account  they  had  sent, 
strangely  perverted,  curtaiVd  and  maimed;  you  are  therefore  desired  to  in- 
sert in  your  next  verbatim. 

Last  Wednesday  (being  the  Day  appointed)  was  open'ed  St.  George's 
Chapel,  upon  which  Occasion,  the  Rector,  Assistant,  Church- Wardens,  and 
Vestry,  of  Trinity-Church  assembled  in  the  Vestry-Room,  in  the  Charity 
School-House,  where  they  were  met  by  some  of  the  Town  and  neighbour- 
ing Clergy,  and  other  Gentlemen  of  Distinction,  from  whence  they  set  out 
in  regniar  Form  and  Order,  attended  by  the  Charity  Scholars,  40  Boys 
and  12  Girls,  who  Avalk'd  before  in  Pairs,  with  their  School-Master  at  the 
Head  of  them;  and  at  the  City  Hall,  were  join'd  by  the  Mayor,  Recorder, 
Aldermen,  and  Common  Council.  After  which,  they  all  proceeded  to  the 
Chapel,  where  Divine  Service  was  perform'd,  with  the  utmost  Decency  and 
Propriety.  The  whole  Ceremony  concluded  with  an  excellent  Sermon, 
preach'd  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Henry  Barclay,  Rector  of  Trinity-Church,  suit- 
able to  the  Occasion  from  these  Words,  Lev.  xxvi.  2, — Reverence  my  Sanctu- 
ary:  I  am  the  Lord." 

(The  Printer  of  this  Paper  happen'd  to  he  out  of  Town  all  the  Time  of 
composing  and  printing  last  Week's  Gazette;  but  as  the  Paragraph  came 
both  then  and  at  this  Time  without  any  Name;  and  the  Person  left  to  the 
Care  of  his  Business,  Knowing  hotv  fatally  the  Printer  had  been  mistaken 
{according  to  the  present  Notion  of  the  Connoissiurs  of  the  Liberty  of  the 
Press)  in  Printing  Things  ivrote  by  Authors  incog,  he  applied  to  some 
Gentlemen  ivhom^  he  thought  the  Printer's  Friends,  for  their  advice  upon 
it;  and  as  both  he  and  they  looked  on  all  Articles  unsign'd,  as  to  he  sup- 
posed to  come  from  the  Printer  they  took  the  Liberty  to  alter  it  in  such 
Manner  as  they  thought  most  grammatical,  and  to  give  the  least  Offence: 
The  Printer  begs  therefore  once  more,  that  those  Gentlemen  who  write 
Articles  of  any  kind,  relating  to  Church  or  State,  would  be  pleased  to  put 
their  Name  to  them;  that  so  the  poor  Printer  may  not  hear  the  blame:  He 
is  indeed  apprehensive  that  all  considerate  Lovers  of  their  Coimtry  wUl 
look  upon  his  Resolution,  as  one  small  step  towards  abridging  the  long 
lov'd  and  dear  bought  Liberty  of  Englishmen.  And  had  he  now  Time,  he 
would  make  a  further  Apology  for  it;  hut  as  that  is  wanting,  must  defer 
it  for  another  Opportunity ;  only  he  assures  them,  that  if  he  had  been  at 
home,  he  should  not  have  offer'd  to  niter  the  above  Article;  and  believes  it 
was  not  done  ivith  any  Design  to  prejudice  it.) 

The  erection  of  the  Chapel  at  once  afforded  largely  increased  ac- 
commodation for  the  rapidly  growing  number  of  adherents  to  the 
English  Church,  and  also  stimulated  the  drift  toward  it  on  the  part 
of  many  who  had  been  educated  in  the  Dutch  Church. 

The  special  charge  of  St.  George's  Chapel  was  assigned  to  the 
assistant  minister,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Auchmuty,  and  the  Vestry  voted 


26  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

that  sixty  pounds  in  addition  to  the  annual  allowance  be  paid  to 
the  Rector  and  also  to  his  assistant  *'  in  consideration  of  their  ex- 
traordinary duties  at  the  Chapel  until  another  minister  be  pro- 
vided." 

The  history  of  the  Chapel  for  the  sixty  years  before  its  separation 
from  the  mother-church  is  interwoven  with  that  of  Trinity  Church. 
Its  ministers  were  the  clergy  of  that  parish ;  its  affairs  were  directed 
by  the  Vestry  elected  by  the  qualified  voters  of  the  parish,  wor- 
shiping either  in  the  Church  or  the  Chapel;  its  charities  flowed  in 
the  same  channel.  Until  the  establishment  of  St.  Paul's  Chapel, 
which  was  opened  for  Divine  Service  in  1766,  Trinity  and  St. 
George's  together  represented  the  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  then  these  three  congregations  represented  it  until  after  the 
Revolution.  The  "  collegiate  "  idea  or  that  of  ''  an  association  of 
churches  having  pastors  in  common  "  was  that  which  obtained  in 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  the  original  congregations  being  united 
under  one  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  until  the  Garden  Street  or  South 
Church  was  separated  in  1813  and  other  independent  congregations 
came  gradually  into  being.  But  the  original  Collegiate  Church  re- 
mains in  existence  and  highly  prosperous  to  the  present  day. 

The  clergy  of  Trinity,  accordingly,  officiated  in  turn  in  the  parish 
Church  and  in  the  Chapel  according  to  a  published  roster,  and 
the  same  rule  obtained  after  St.  Paul's  Chapel  and  St.  John's 
came  into  being  and  were  included  in  the  ministrations  of  the  parish 
clergy. 

The  favorite  charity  of  the  parish  was  the  Charity  School,  which 
had  been  founded  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
at  the  suggestion  of  Colonel  Heathcote  in  1709.  William  Huddle- 
stone,  who  had  officiated  as  Clerk  of  the  Church  from  its  beginning, 
was  appointed  schoolmaster  at  a  salary  of  fifteen  pounds.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Thomas,  upon  whose  death  Thomas  Nixon  was 
appointed  in  1732.  He  was  succeeded  in  1741  by  William  Hildreth, 
during  whose  incumbency  and  while  he  was  successfully  carrying  on 
his  work  in  the  belfry  of  the  church,  the  Vestry  erected  upon  ad- 
.iacent  ground  a  school  building  in  1748.  Unhappily,  however,  it 
was  unaccountably  destroyed  by  fire  soon  after  its  erection,  and  the 
flames,  being  communicated  to  the  spire  of  the  Church,  were  with 
difficulty  extinguished  there.  The  schoolhouse,  however,  was  prompt- 
ly rebuilt,  contributions  being  freely  made  therefor.  It  was  a  popu- 
lar charity  and  collections  were  annually  taken  in  its  support  in  the 
Church  and  in  the  Chapel.  Announcements  were  freely  made  and 
publicity  given  to  these  sermons  in  the  local  papers,  of  which  the 


THE    CHAPEL    PERIOD  27 

following  from  The  New  York  Gazette  or  the  Weekly  Post-Boy  of 
October  21,  1764,  may  serve  as  a  sample : 

We  hear,  that  two  Charity  Sermons  are  to  be  preached  in  order  to  raise 
a  Sum  of  Money,  sufficient  to  cloath  the  poor  Children  belonging  to  the 
Charity  School,  in  this  City.  The  first  by  the  Rev'd.  Mr.  Barclay,  at 
Trinity  Church,  on  the  next  Sunday  in  the  Forenoon:  The  other  by  the 
Rev'd.  Mr.  Auchmuty,  at  St.  George's  Chapel,  on  the  Sunday  following,  in 
the  Morning. 

N.  B.  As  the  Charity  School  in  this  City,  receives  poor  Children  of  every 
Persuasion  amongst  us :  so  it  is  to  be  hoped,  that  every  Catholic,  benevolent, 
and  well  disposed  Christian  will  generously  contribute  to  the  Relief  and 
Comfort  of  a  Set  of  poor  helpless  Children,  (many  of  them  Orphans)  who 
without  the  Kind  Charity  proposed,  must  inevitably  be  greatly  exposed  to 
Cold  and  Nakedness,  this  ensuing  Winter. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  state  that  bequests  for  the  School  and 
a  liberal  endowment  by  the  Trinity  Corporation  having  placed  the 
Institution  on  a  permanent  basis,  it  was  incorporated  in  1806  and 
twenty  years  later  was  reorganized  by  the  trustees  as  a  school  for 
instruction  in  English  education  and  classical  learning  under  the 
title  of  The  New  York  Protestant  Episcopal  Public  School.  Its 
name  was  again  changed  in  1845  to  Trinity  School,  and  it  has  since 
grown  into  that  splendid  and  well-equipped  institution  now  located 
in  West  Ninety-first  Street. 

The  genesis  of  that  other  institution  of  learning,  of  which  every 
New-Yorker  is  justly  proud  and  which  owes  its  origin  to  the  fore- 
sight, persistency,  and  energy  of  the  Churchmen  of  that  da}'^,  should 
be  recorded  here.  It  was  on  the  31st  day  of  October,  1754,  that  the 
Royal  Charter  passed  the  Governor  and  Council,  which  at  last,  after 
much  delay,  wrangling,  and  bitter  opposition  on  the  part  of  those 
who  hated  the  Church  of  England,  founded  King's  College,  which 
has  grown  into  our  magnificent  Columbia  University.  The  educa- 
tional work  had  been  begun  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  who  was 
named  in  the  charter  as  the  first  president  and  who  constituted 
the  entire  faculty,  on  the  17th  of  July,  with  eight  students,  in  the 
new  schoolhouse  adjoining  Trinity  Church.  The  promise  of  Trinity 
parish  to  provide  a  site  for  the  College  was  handsomely  realized  in 
the  donation  of  the  plot  of  land  (voted  May  14,  1754)  between 
Barclay  and  Murray  streets  and  between  Church  Street  and  the 
river.     The  condition  of  the  grant  was 

That  the  President  of  the  Colledge  forever  for  the  time  being  be  a  mem- 
ber of  and  in  Communion  with  the  Church  of  England,  and  that  the  Morn- 
ing and  Evening  sen-ice  in  said  Colledge  be  the  Htergj^  of  the  said  Church 
or  such  a  Collection  of  Praj-ers  out  of  said  Liturgy  as  shall  be  agreed  upon 
by  the  President  and  Trustees  or  governors  of  the  said  colledge. 


28  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Plans  for  building  were  adopted  July  13,  1756,  and  the  corner- 
stone laid  August  23d. 

The  first  Commencement  was  held  in  St.  George's  Chapel,  June 
21,  1758,  at  which  the  first  public  oration  by  a  graduating  student 
was  delivered  by  Samuel  I'rovoost,  afterward  Rector  of  Trinity  and 
Bishop  of  New  York.  The  Neiv  York  Mercury  of  June  26th  speaks 
of  it  as  ' '  the  first  Solemnity  of  the  kind  ever  celebrated  here,  which 
was  through  the  whole  conducted  with  much  Elegance  and  Pro- 
priety. The  order  of  the  Procession  from  the  Vestry  Room  where 
the  College  is  now  held  to  St.  George's  Chapel  "  is  given  in  detail, 
and  the  orations  and  other  exercises  sympathetically  described. 
Eight  graduates  received  the  degree  of  B.A.  and  thirteen  educated 
elsewhere  were  honored  with  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  There 
was  no  Commencement  in  the  following  year,  but  thereafter,  until 
and  including  1764,  the  Commencements  were  regularly  held  in  St. 
George's.  This  was  the  first  Commencement  at  which  President 
Myles  Cooper  presided.  May,  1764.  It  was  attended  by  General 
Gage  and  His  Majesty's  Council.  The  Salutatory  was  delivered  by 
Richard  Harrison;  John  Jay,  the  other  member  of  the  graduating 
class,  pronouncing  an  address  on  the  ' '  Blessings  of  Peace. ' ' 

That  much  interest  in  the  College  was  felt  in  England  is  attested 
by  the  fact  that  a  Royal  Brief  was  issued  under  the  Great  Seal 
of  Great  Britain,  August  19th,  1762,  authorizing  the  making  of  a 
collection  throughout  the  Kingdom  from  house  to  house  for  the  joint 
and  equal  benefit  of  the  colleges  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  the 
result  accruing  to  King's  College  from  which  collection  was  about 
six  thousand  pounds,  the  King  himself  contributing  four  hundred 
pounds.  The  original  prospectus  of  the  undertaking  bears  unmis- 
takable marks  of  a  most  liberal  spirit,  utterly  confuting  the  fears 
which  had  been  so  vociferously  expressed  that  the  Institution  would 
be  conducted  in  a  narrow  and  sectarian  way;  and  the  inclusion  by 
the  Charter  of  the  ministers  of  the  Dutch,  Lutheran,  French,  and 
Presbyterian  churches  in  the  Board  of  Governors  reflected  the  cos- 
mopolitan character  of  the  city  even  at  that  early  day  and  betokened 
the  breadth  and  catholicity  which  has  ever  marked  the  administra- 
tion of  King's  College  and  Columbia  University. 

An  extract  from  the  vestry  minutes  of  January  30,  1760,  is  of 
interest : 

It  being  represented  that  the  Pantiles  on  the  Roofe  of  St.  George's 
Chappell  are  too  weighty  for  the  Roofe  and  Walls  of  the  said  Chappell, 
it  is  resolved  and  ordered  that  the  said  Tiles  be  removed  and  sold  and  the 
Roofe  shingled. 


THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD  29 

At  this  same  meeting  Mr.  Robert  Crommelin,  a  member  of  the 
Vestry  and  the  architect  of  St.  George's  Chapel,  offered  to  the  Cor- 
poration ''  a  clock  from  Europe  at  the  prime  cost,"  which  offer 
was  accepted  and  a  committee  appointed  "  to  have  the  same  clock 
raised  up  in  the  Chappell  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  think  most 
convenient. ' '  It  was  also  ordered  that  the  burial  fees  at  the  Chapel 
should  be  at  the  same  rates  as  those  at  the  Church. 

The  following  advertisement  appeared  in  the  New  York  Mercury 
of  September  15,  1760 : 

THIS  is  to  infoi-m  the  Public,  that  a  Free  School  is  opened  near  the 
New-Diitch-Chnrch,  for  the  instruction  of  30  Negi'o  Children,  from  5  years 
old  and  upwards,  in  Reading,  and  in  the  Principles  of  Christianity,  and 
likewise  sewing  and  knitting;  which  School  is  entirely  under  the  Inspection 
and  Care  of  the  Clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  in  this  City:  Those 
Persons  therefore  that  have  the  present  Usefulness,  and  future  Welfare  of 
their  young  Slaves  at  Heart  (especially  those  born  in  their  Houses),  are 
desired  to  apply  to  any  one  of  the  Clergy,  who  will  immediately  send  them 
to  the  aforesaid  School,  and  see  that  they  be  faithfully  instructed. 

N.  B.  All  that  is  required  of  their  Masters  or  Mistresses,  is  that  they 
find  them  in  Wood  for  the  Winter.  Proper  Books  will  be  provided  for 
them  gratis. 

For  many  years  the  clergy  of  the  parish,  with  the  assistance  of 
a  line  of  humble  and  devoted  Catechists,  had  done  what  they  could 
to  better  the  spiritual  and  intellectual  condition  of  the  slaves,  of 
whom  there  were  some  fifteen  hundred  in  the  city  in  1705,  when 
Elias  Neau  began  his  self-denying  and  successful  catechetical  labors. 
Slavery  had  been  introduced  into  the  city  by  the  Dutch,  and  the 
pitiable  condition  of  these  unfortunates  is  thus  described  by  Dr. 
David  Humphrys,  secretary  of  the  S.  P.  G.,  in  his  Historical  Ac- 
count: 

The  negroes  were  much  discouraged  from  embracing  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, upon  accoiuit  of  the  very  little  regard  showed  them  in  any  religious 
respect.  Their  marriages  were  performed  by  mutual  consent  only,  without 
tlie  blessing  of  the  (^liurch;  thej-  were  buried  by  those  of  their  own  countiy 
or  complexion  in  the  common  field,  without  any  Christian  office,  perhaps 
some  ridiculous  heathen  rites  were  performed  at  the  grave  by  some  of  their 
own  people.  No  notice  was  given  of  their  being  sick  that  they  might  be 
visited;  on  the  contrary  frequent  discourses  were  made  in  conversation  that 
they  had  no  souls  and  perished  as  beasts. 

By  Mr.  Neau's  efforts,  however,  more  than  two  hundred  Cate- 
chumens were  gathered,  and  though  he  was  handicapped  by  the 
impossibility  of  getting  them  together  except  by  candle-light  when 
the  day's  toil  was  over,  he  taught  and  trained  them,  and  on  Sun- 
day afternoons  assembled  them  in  the  church  to  be  occasionally  ex- 


30  JilSTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

amined  by  the  Rector,  and  from  time  to  time  presented  well- 
prepared  candidates  for  Holy  Baptism.  That  he  was  highly  es- 
teemed is  evident  from  his  membership  in  the  vestry  from  1705 
to  1714.  Upon  his  death  the  Venerable  Society  acceded  to  the 
request  of  the  Vestry  that  a  presbyter  should  take  his  place  and  sent, 
in  1723,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wetmore  to  be  Catechist  and  otherwise  to 
assist  the  Rector,  the  instruction  of  the  blacks,  however,  being  his 
most  conspicuous  duty.  A  succession  of  teachers  for  these  people 
attested  the  Church's  interest  in  their  welfare,  and  it  is  worthy  of 
note  that  when  St.  George 's  was  erected  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Auchmuty 
assigned  to  its  special  care  one  of  his  designated  duties  was  to  hold 
catechetical  exercises  for  the  negroes  at  the  Chapel. 

The  observance  of  Thanksgiving  Day,  which  was  an  established 
institution  in  old  New  York,  is  thus  chronicled  in  the  Neiv  York 
Mercury  of  August  15,  1763 : 

Thursday  last,  being  the  day  appointed  by  Authority  for  a  general 
Thanksgiving  throughout  this  Province,  the  following  Texts  were  made 
use  of,  by  the  Gentlemen  Clergy  of  the  several  Denominations  in  this  City; 
which  we  have  been  assured,  were  extremely  well  adajited  to  the  purport  of 
the  day  and  handled  on  all  Sides  with  gi-eat  Propriety,  viz.  At  Trinity 
Church  by  Dr.  Barclay,  from  Psalms  178,  Verses  28,  29.  At  St.  George's 
Chapel  by  Mr.  Auchmuty,  from  Psalm  27,  Verses  6,  7. 

Then  followed  the  names  of  other  churches — the  Presbyterian, 
the  Baptist,  the  Moravian,  the  Old  Dutch,  the  New  Dutch,  the 
French,  and  the  Synagogue,  with  the  preachers  and  texts,  and  the 
account  closes  with  the  statement,  "  After  the  different  congrega- 
tions had  broken  up  and  his  Honour  the  Governour  had  returned 
to  the  Fort,  His  Majesty's  and  other  Healths  were  drank  under  the 
Discharge  of  the  Cannon." 

The  Rector  of  the  parish.  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Barclay,  departed  this 
life,  August  20,  1764,  universally  lamented;  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Auchmuty,  who  had  had  special  charge  of  St.  George's,  was  at  once 
elected  to  the  rectorship,  the  Rev.  John  Ogilvie  taking  his  place 
as  assistant  minister.  The  Rev.  Charles  Inglis,  who  later  became 
Rector,  was  added  to  the  clerical  staff,  June  7,  1765, 

These  were  the  troublous  times  which  presaged  the  American 
Revolution.  The  obnoxious  Stamp  Act  was  to  take  effect  in  No- 
vember, 1765.  A  Provincial  Congress  had  been  held  which  denied 
the  right  of  Parliament  to  tax  the  people  and  drew  up  an  address 
to  the  King  protesting  against  the  Stamp  Act.  On  the  21st  of 
May,  1766,  the  principal  clergy  of  the  English  Church  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  Connecticut  met  in  convention  in  Dr.  Auchmuty 's 


THE    GHAPEL    PERIOD  31 

house,  and  of  his  sermon  in  connection  with  this  gathering  the  New 
York  Mercury  of  May  26th  records : 

The  Doctor  after  a  pathetick  Application  to  his  Brethren,  in  the  con- 
clusion of  his  Sermon  addressed  himself  to  his  Audience,  and  congratulated 
them  upon  the  Kepeal  of  the  disagi-eeable  Stamp  Act,  and  then  concluded 
the  whole  Avith  Such  Advice  as  our  present  Circumstances  highly  require 
should  be  followed. 

St.  Paul's  Chapel,  the  second  daughter  of  old  Trinity,  was  opened 
for  Divine  Service  in  November,  1766.  The  contemporary  account 
of  the  service  in  the  New  York  Journal  does  ample  justice  to  the 
beauty  of  the  edifice  and  the  solemnities  of  the  occasion.  "  The 
venerable  Chapel  still  stands  on  its  old  site,  the  only  surviving 
ecclesiastical  relic  of  the  Colonial  era."  But  the  earlier  St.  George's 
having  long  since  been  translated  to  a  more  favorable  location,  the 
present  generation  fails  to  identify  the  elegant  structure  on  Stuy- 
vesant  Square  with  the  St.  George's  of  the  olden  time.  The  fact 
remains,  however,  that  St.  George's  Chapel  was  the  elder  sister 
of  St.  Paul's  by  fourteen  years,  and  by  that  period  St.  George's 
has  the  longer  record  of  continuous  and  useful  service. 

The  establishment  of  the  new  Chapel  so  stimulated  the  growth 
and  increased  the  work  of  the  parish  that  in  December,  1766,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Provoost  was  appointed  an  additional  assistant  min- 
ister, "  to  officiate  in  his  turn  at  the  several  churches  on  the  Lord's 
Day  and  at  Prayers  on  week  days  when  requested  by  the  Rector. ' ' 

The  first  steps  toward  the  formation  of  a  Society  for  the  relief 
of  the  widows  and  children  of  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England 
were  taken  at  a  meeting  held  in  Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey,  in 
October,  1767,  and  within  a  few  years  identical  charters  were  se- 
cured in  the  three  provinces  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania and  a  treasurer  appointed  for  each.  After  the  Revolution, 
the  accumulated  funds  were  equitably  divided,  and  the  work  in- 
augurated by  the  ancient  corporation  is  still  carried  on  in  these 
three  States. 

One  of  the  evidences  of  the  trying  times  which  Church  and  State 
were  rapidly  nearing  was  the  anxiety  felt  about  the  financial  con- 
dition of  the  parish,  which  suggested  the  necessity  of  reducing  the 
staff  of  clergy.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Provoost  met  the  situation  by  resigning 
his  position  and  retiring  from  the  city  in  1771,  though  his  well- 
known  political  views  probably  had  some  bearing  on  the  case. 

A  most  acceptable  gift  to  the  parish  is  noted  in  the  following 
letter  from  the  Governor  to  the  Rector,  which  he  acknowledged 
December  29,  1772 : 


32  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

To  Dr.  Auchmuty: 

Sir:  I  am  to  request  the  favor  of  j'ou  herewith  to  receive  a  Sett  of 
Church  Furniture,  Plate  and  Books,  which  I  present  as  a  New  Year's  Gift 
for  the  sole  use  and  service  of  St.  George's  Chapel  in  tliis  City.  I  am 
with  esteem, 

Sir,  your  most  obed't  Servant, 

Wm.  Tryon. 

The  New  York  Gazette  and  the  Weekly  Mercury  of  January  4, 
1773,  in  publishing  the  fact,  adds,  "  Such  a  generous  Donation 
must  endear  his  Excellency  to  every  friend  of  Religion  and  Virtue." 

Upon  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Doctor  Ogilvie,  November  26,  1774, 
the  Rev.  Benjamin  ]\Ioore  and  the  Rev.  John  Bowden  were  appointed 
assistant  ministers  of  the  parish,  subscriptions  being  depended  upon 
to  provide  their  support. 

As  we  are  entering  on  consideration  of  the  Church  affairs  in 
Revolutionary  times,  it  may  be  well  to  glance  at  the  position  of  the 
clergy.  In  all  the  Colonies  there  were  three  hundred  congregations, 
large  and  small,  and  perhaps  two  hundred  and  fifty  clergymen  of 
the  Church  of  England.  The  development  of  the  Church  in  Amer- 
ica had  been  but  slow,  largely  due  to  lack  of  the  Episcopate  and 
the  resultant  lack  of  coherency  and  discipline.  It  was  the  Church 
of  the  representatives  of  Royalty  in  each  provincial  government 
south  of  New  England,  the  Church  of  the  office-holders,  and  in 
general  of  the  leaders  in  business  and  society.  The  clergy,  most  of 
them,  were  Englishmen  by  birth  and  with  few  exceptions  mission- 
aries and  stipendiaries  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel;  and  those  who  were  Americans  had  sought  their  Orders 
on  the  other  side  and  so  were  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  as  such  at  their  ordination  had  subscribed  allegiance  to  the 
British  Crown.  It  is  well  known  that  a  large  number  of  the  lead- 
ing patriots,  signers  of  the  Declaration,  generals  and  statesmen, 
who  laid  the  broad  and  sound  foundations  of  the  new  Republic, 
were  members  of  the  Established  Church.  But  it  is  not  as  well 
known  as  it  might  be  that  many  of  the  clergy  in  Virginia  and  else- 
where were  aggressive  leaders  in  the  patriot  cause;  a  few  served 
in  the  ranks,  and  in  South  Carolina  out  of  twenty  when  hostilities 
broke  out  five  only  remained  royalists  and  left  the  country.  But  the 
great  body  of  the  clergy  did  not  feel  that  the  appeal  to  arms  in 
vindication  of  resistance  to  oppression,  and  the  assertion  of  colonial 
rights  and  liberties,  or  even  the  changed  status  wrought  by  the 
immortal  Declaration  of  the  Independence  of  the  Colonies,  absolved 
them  from  their  fealty  to  the  Crown  or  duty  to  still  use  the  Liturgy 


THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD  33 

unmutilated  by  omission  of  prayers  for  the  King,  for  it  was  not 
yet  certain  what  the  issue  of  the  struggle  was  to  be.  The  inde- 
pendence of  the  Colonies  was  not  yet  achieved,  and  so  it  was  not 
clear  as  yet  that  the  new  governmental  power  was  "  ordained  of 
God."  The  Philadelphia  clergy  generally  took  the  patriot  side. 
In  and  about  New  York  they  cast  tlieir  influence  in  favor  of  the 
Crown.  He  who  was  afterward  first  Bishop  of  Connecticut  was  then 
the  rector  of  Westchester,  and,  probably  in  part  through  fear  of 
Puritan  ascendancy  and  the  destruction  of  the  Church  should  Eng- 
land's power  be  subverted,  plunged  into  such  effective  leadership 
that  by  polemic  pamphlets  and  his  personal  appeals  to  members 
of  the  Assembly  he  seriously  retarded  the  progress  of  the  patriot 
cause.  King's  College  lost  its  President,  the  Rev.  Myles  Cooper, 
whose  offensive  activities  on  the  same  side  subjected  him  to  threat- 
ened violence,  from  which  flight  only  saved  him.  The  files  of  the 
Society,  the  S.  P.  G.,  abound  in  letters  (copies  of  which  lie  in  the 
archives  in  the  Church  Missions  House),  giving  most  pitiful,  pathetic 
portraitures  of  the  hardships  and  sufferings  of  the  royalist  clergy. 
Their  "  conscientious  devotion  to  their  mistaken  sense  of  duty  and 
a  readiness  to  suffer  in  the  cause  of  Church  and  Crown  cannot  be 
gainsaid."  This  tribute  to  their  faithfulness  and  loyalty  was  paid 
in  his  sermon  before  the  S.  P.  G.  at  its  anniversary  in  England  in 
1784  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford : 

The  characters  of  these  worthies  will  entitle  them  to  a  lasting  memorial 
in  some  future  impartial  history  of  the  late  events  in  that  countiy  (Amer- 
ica). Their  firm  perseverance  in  their  duty  amid  temptations,  menaces,  and 
in  some  cases  cruelty,  would  have  distinguished  them  as  meritorious  men 
in  better  times. 

General  "Washington  entered  New  York  in  April,  1776,  hoping  to 
hold  possession. 

Doctor  Auchmuty,  being  quite  indisposed  in  health  through  labors 
and  anxiety,  retired  to  New  Brunswick  with  his  family,  leaving  the 
care  of  the  parish  with  his  senior  assistant,  Mr.  Inglis,  who,  after 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  decided  to  close  the  Church  and 
St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's  Chapels,  as  he  was  unwilling  to  dis- 
continue prayers  for  the  King,  and  to  continue  services  with  the 
prayers  included  might  subject  the  edifices  to  damage.  In  his  report 
to  the  S.  P.  G.  Mr.  Inglis  wrote  : 

After  we  had  ceased  to  officiate  publicly,  several  of  the  rebel  officers 
sent  to  me  for  the  keys  of  the  churches  that  their  chaplains  mig'ht  preach  in 
them;  with  these  requisitions  I  refused  peremptorily  to  comply  .  .  .  for  I 
could  not  bear  the  thought  that  theu-  seditious  and  rebellious  effusions 
should  be  poured  out  in  our  churches. 


34  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  other  assistants  now  went  to  friends  in  the  country.  The 
Church  and  Chapels  remained  unmolested. 

A  letter  dated  Staten  Island,  August  17,  1776,  preserved  in  the 
New  York  Historical  Society  says: 

The  Episcopal  Cliurches  in  New  York  are  all  shut  up,  the  prayer  books 
burned  and  the  ministers  scattered  abroad  in  this  and  neighboring  pi'ovinces. 
It  is  now  the  Puritans'  high  holiday  season,  and  they  enjoy  it  with  rapture. 

After  the  disastrous  Battle  of  Long  Island,  Washington  evacuated 
New  Y^'ork,  and  General  Howe,  with  the  British  troops,  took  pos- 
session and  made  it  his  headquarters  till  the  close  of  the  war  in 
1783.  Mr.  Inglis  at  once  returned  and  "  solemnized  Divine  Serv- 
ice," which  was  joyfully  attended  by  the  Royalists  who  remained 
in  the  city.  But  within  a  week  occurred  a  terrible  disaster.  In  the 
early  morning  of  September  21st  a  fire  broke  out  in  a  small  wooden 
house  on  the  wharf  near  Whitehall  Slip.  The  wind  blew  fresh  from 
the  south.  All  was  done  that  was  possible  to  arrest  the  flames,  the 
soldiers  and  the  sailors  from  the  fleet  rendering  eiflcient  service, 
but  there  was  no  sort  of  fire  apparatus,  and  the  inhabitants  left  in 
the  city  were  few.  Long  before  the  main  fire  reached  Trinity 
Church  its  roof  and  steeple  were  in  flames  and  the  venerable  edifice 
was  doomed.  St.  Paul's  Chapel  and  King's  College  were  in  the 
line  of  fire,  but  were  with  difficulty  saved.  Suspicions  and  charges 
of  incendiarism  were  freely  made,  but  there  is  no  proof  that  the 
fire  was  not  accidental.  Besides  the  Church  and  its  Charity  School, 
the  Rector's  house,  the  old  liUtheran  Church,  and  some  five  hundred 
other  buildings  were  destroyed.  On  the  following  day,  which  was 
Sunday,  the  first  after  the  English  occupation,  a  sermon  was 
preached  by  Chaplain  O'Beirne  which  met  with  such  favor  that  it 
was  published  by  request. 

Tlie  Rector  soon  after  returned  to  the  city,  having  with  great 
difficulty  passed  the  American  lines  by  night  and  on  foot.  He 
found  his  own  house  as  well  as  the  Church  in  ruins,  but  was  thank- 
ful that  Providence  had  preserved  St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's.  He 
relieved  his  mind  by  a  sermon  rather  violently  phrased  in  its  al- 
lusions to  "  cruel  enemies  "  and  "  violent  incendiaries,"  but  the 
stream  of  events  proved  too  much  for  his  strength  and  in  the  follow- 
ing IMarch  he  died.  The  Assistant  Minister,  Rev.  Charles  Inglis, 
sixteen  days  later  was  elected  Rector. 

During  the  distractions  and  sufferings  of  the  Revolutionary  times 
but  scant  attention  was  given  to  Church  affairs.  The  resources  of 
the  parish  were  rapidly  dwindling.  By  the  disastrous  fire  Church 
property  was  destroyed  amounting  to  twenty-two  thousand  two  hun- 


THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD  35 

dred  pounds,  besides  the  annual  loss  to  the  Corporation  of  five 
hundred  and  thirty-six  pounds,  the  annual  rent  of  two  hundred  and 
forty-six  lots  of  ground,  the  tenants'  buildings  on  which  had  been 
consumed.  The  parish  registers  were  also  burned,  the  record  of  the 
marriages  since  1746  alone  escaping. 

But  the  Charity  School  was  not  forgotten  in  these  trying  times, 
for  the  annual  collection  was  regularly  made.  Even  when  the 
Church  lay  in  ashes  after  the  great  fire  of  1776,  the  local  papers 
announced  the  usual  collection  in  St.  George's  and  on  the  following 
Sunday  in  St.  Paul's  "  for  the  same  laudable  purpose."  The 
following  phrasing  of  the  notice  in  the  New  York  Gazette  and  the 
Weekly  Mercury  of  November  24,  1777,  may  be  of  interest : 

On  Suuday  next  a  Charity  Sermon  will  be  preached  in  the  Forenoon,  at 
St.  George's  Chapel,  for  the  Benefit  of  the  Charity  School  in  this  City. — 
Should  the  Weather  l3e  bad,  the  Sermon  will  be  postponed  to  the  following 
Sunday. 

It  may  be  proper  to  inform  such  as  are  not  acquainted  with  the  Nature 
and  Design  of  this  Institution — that  this  School  consists  of  86  Scholars, 
viz.  56  Bo3"s  and  30  Girls,  who  are  annually  cloathed  and  instructed  in  the 
Principles  of  the  Christian  Religion.  They  are  taught  Reading,  Writing, 
and  Aritlimetick,  and  the  Girls  Xeedle  Work ;  Books,  Paper,  &e.  found  them. 
The  Aiders  of  this  pious  Work  are  also  informed,  that  the  School  is  visited 
once  a  Month  by  the  Rector,  Church  Wardens,  and  a  Committee  of  the 
Vestry  of  Trinity  Church,  and  the  Children  carefully  examined;  and  that 
the  Institution  is  princiiTally  supported  by  the  Contributions  of  benevolent 
Persons,  collected  at  the  Sermons  which  are  annuallj'  preached  for  its 
Benefit. 

The  veteran  schoolmaster,  "William  Hildreth,  had  reported  to 
the  S.  P.  G.  in  October,  1776,  that  his  scholars  had  gradually  dwin- 
dled, that  he  with  other  friends  of  the  government  had  fled  from 
New  York  to  avoid  being  sent  as  prisoners  to  New  England,  and 
that  upon  returning  to  the  city,  after  the  King's  troops  had  taken 
possession,  he  found  it  in  flames.  He  was  collecting  his  scholars 
and  hoped  soon  to  gather  them  all  in.  But  l\Ir.  Hildreth  died  May 
11th  of  the  following  year  and  Amos  Bull  was  appointed  his  suc- 
cessor. The  Eev.  IMr.  Bowden  resigned  his  position  as  assistant 
minister  in  April,  1777. 

The  Vestry  Records  of  October,  1779,  contain  this  interesting 
entry : 

It  being  represented  to  this  Corporation  by  one  of  its  members,  that  the 
Old  Dutch  Church  in  this  City  is  at  Present  used  as  a  Hospital  for  His 
Majesty's  Troops,  The  Board  Impressed  with  a  gratefull  Remembrance  of 
the  former  kmdness  of  the  Members  of  that  Antient  Church  in  permitting 
the  use  of  their  Church  to  the  Members  of  the  Church  of  England,  when 


3G  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

they  had  no  proper  edifice  of  their  own  for  that  purpose,  offer  to  the 
Members  of  the  Ancient  Dutch  Church  the  use  of  St.  George's  Chajaple  for 
celebrating  their  worship  on  Sundays  and  such  other  times  as  they  shall 
chuse  to  perform  Divine  service.  They  hope  from  nine  to  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  morning  and  from  one  to  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  will  be  con- 
venient to  the  Members  of  the  Dutch  Church.  If  these  hours  should  be  very 
Inconvenient  the  Vestry  will  endeavor  to  meet  their  wishes  as  far  as  they 
can  consistent  with  the  duty  they  owe  to  their  own  congregation. 

In  justification  of  this  action,  the  Rector  wrote  to  the  S.  P.  G., 
Novem}3er  26,  1779 : 

The  members  of  the  Dutch  Church  in  this  city  had  always  lived  in  the 
utmost  harmony  with  the  members  of  our  Church.  .  .  .  The  Loyal  Dutch 
contmued  in  the  City  after  it  was  reduced  by  the  King's  Troops;  &  a 
loyal  Minister  officiated  for  them.  But  the  Commandant  was  imder  the 
necessity  of  taking  their  Church  lately  for  an  Hospital;  and  the  Dutch 
Congregation  sigiiified  their  inclination  that  we  should  assist  them,  I  im- 
mediately called  my  Vestry,  &  after  maturely  considering  all  circumstances 
we  judged  it  adviseable  for  many  reasons  to  let  them  have  the  use  of  one 
of  our  Churches.  Accordingly  their  minister  now  Officiates  for  them  early 
in  the  mornmg,  &  between  our  Services  in  St.  George's  Chapel,  without  any 
interniption  to  my  Congregation.  I  believe  we  did  right  in  tliis,  &  think 
you  would  have  been  of  the  same  opinion,  were  you  acquamted  with  our 
situation. 

The  formal  acknowledgment  of  this  courtesy  was  made  April  8, 
1780,  signed  by  the  ofiScers  of  the  Dutch  Church  and  addressed  to 
the  Rector : 

Permit  us,  sir,  thro'  you,  to  return  our  most  grateful  thanks  to  the  Vestry 
of  Trinity  Church  for  their  kind  offer  of  St.  George's  Chappie,  with  the 
use  of  wliich  we  were  so  happily  accommodated  during  the  time  our  Church 
was  occupied  by  his  Majesty's  troops.  The  Clii-istian  like  behaviour  and 
kind  attention  shown  them  in  our  distress  by  members  of  the  Cluirch  of 
England  T\ill  make  a  lasting  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  antient  Re- 
formed Dutch  Congregation,  who  have  always  considered  the  interest  of 
the  two  churches  inseparable,  and  hope  that  this  Instance  of  Brotherly 
Love,  will  evince  to  posterity  the  cordial  and  happy  union  subsisting  be- 
tween us.  We  are,  wdth  gi-eat  Regard,  Dear  Sir,  Your  most  faithful  and 
obedient  servants. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Vestry,  April  5,  1781,  Thomas  Collister 
petitioned  that  body 

to  take  into  consideration  of  allowing  me  a  Salaiy  for  Taking  care  of 
St.  George's  Chaple  which  will  be  putting  me  on  a  Footing  with  Other 
Sextons,  as  it  woidd  be  an  encouragement  to  me  to  see  that  it  is  kept  in 
Good  Order  &  Clean  in  Avhich  I  would  take  great  delight  &  spare  no  Pains 
to  accomplish. 


THE    CHAPEL    PERIOD  37 

Whereupon  twenty  pounds  was  voted  as  his  salary,  and  nine  years 
later  he  was  appointed  Sexton  at  St.  George's  exclusively. 

Another  official  of  the  Chapel  was  complained  of  to  the  Vestry 
as  "  deficient  in  Psalmody."  For  a  clerk  of  the  parish  this  was  a 
most  unfortunate  defect,  and  he  was  informed  that  he  could  no 
longer  officiate  in  that  capacity,  but  his  salary  would  be  paid  until 
the  end  of  the  year. 

In  May,  1781,  a  committee  was  instructed  to 

paint  the  east  end  of  St.  George's  Chappie,  to  repair  the  Steeple  with  the 
materials  they  may  think  most  proper  &  to  examine  the  state  of  the  paint 
on  the  said  Steeple. 

There  were  many  royalist  refugees  gathered  at  this  time  in  the 
city,  and  through  the  local  papers  notice  was  given  that  the  Gov- 
ernor had  been  pleased  to  allow  them  and  others  who  had  no  seats 
in  the  churches  to  use  the  great  Court  Room  in  the  City  Hall  for 
Divine  Service,  the  refugee  clergy  to  officiate  in  rotation. 

The  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  October  19,  I78I, 
brought  His  Majesty's  ministers  to  realize  that  the  Independence 
of  the  Colonies  must  be  formally  recognized.  But  when  the  royalist 
clergy  in  New  York  learned  that  such  action  was  intended  they 
were  thrown,  as  one  of  them  wrote  to  the  Venerable  Society,  "  into 
the  utmost  surprise  and  consternation."  The  Rector  of  Trinity, 
who  had  been  signally  offensive  in  his  opposition  to  the  patriot 
cause,  saw  no  other  course  open  to  him  than  to  resign  the  rectorship, 
which  he  did  November  1,  1783,  and  sailed  away  to  Nova  Scotia, 
where  he  subsequently  became  Bishop.  His  resignation  was  ac- 
cepted and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Moore,  elected  to  succeed  him.  Doctor 
Inglis  had  preached  his  farewell  sermons  in  St.  George's  and  St. 
Paul's  on  the  preceding  Sunday,  October  26th.  The  Treaty  of 
Peace  was  signed  in  Paris  November  3,  1783,  and  the  evacuation 
of  New  York  by  the  British  followed  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month. 

New  York  might  well  be  "  glad  at  their  departing."  The  city 
had  for  seven  years  "  been  remorselessly  exploited  to  the  point  of 
exhaustion."  It  had  been  "  a  day  of  trouble  and  of  rebuke  and  of 
blasphemy."  Of  the  twenty-five  thousand  inhabitants  in  1776  not 
more  than  half  remained  at  the  close  of  the  war.  The  desolations 
wrought  by  the  great  fire  which  had  left  Trinity  Church  and  other 
buildings  in  ruinous  heaps  were  still  unrepaired.  The  churches 
generally  had  been  dismantled  and  defiled.  The  houses  of  the 
patriots  had  been  pillaged  and  despoiled;  nor  did  rich  royalists 
escape  the  loss  of  horses,  plate,  provisions — anything  an  insolent 
soldiery  could  lay  their  hands  upon.     But  courage  soon  revived, 


38  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

waste  places  were  renewed,  channels  of  business  were  unclogged,  the 
city  grew  at  an  amazing  rate  and  flourished. 

"  A  day  of  public  thanksgiving  for  the  final  establishment  of 
American  Independence,  and  the  long-desired  restoration  of  civil 
government  in  the  blessings  of  an  honorable  peace,"  was  proclaimed 
by  the  Governor  and  duly  observed  on  Thursday,  December  11th. 
The  Rev.  Doctor  Rogers  preached  in  St.  George's  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Moore  in  St.  Paul's. 

The  period  of  transition  from  Colonial  existence  to  the  formative 
conditions  of  the  new  Republic  was  one  beset  with  dangers  to  the 
Church.  The  gathering  of  the  fragments,  scattered  and  scanty, 
within  the  limits  of  the  several  States  and  fusing  them  into  a 
homogeneous  consolidated  body  was  a  work  full  of  difficulty  and 
calling  for  the  wisest  statesmanship  from  the  first  tentative  con- 
vention in  October,  1784,  which  formulated  "  Fundamental  Prin- 
ciples," through  the  first  General  Convention  in  1785,  which  framed 
the  Constitution,  on  through  the  efforts  to  secure  an  American 
Episcopate,  and  until  the  agreement  on  the  Prayer  Book  in  its 
final  form  in  1789.  These  matters  of  deep  interest,  however,  can- 
not be  treated  here.  Bishop  White's  Memoirs  of  the  Church,  Bishop 
Perry's  History  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  and  other  valu- 
able works  give  ample  details  of  the  steps  by  which  the  Church  was 
fully  organized.  Nor  can  we  pause  to  chronicle  the  process  of  forma- 
tion of  the  New  York  diocese  from  1785.  But  we  must  note  two 
special  dangers  and  grave  difficulties  confronting  the  parish,  of  which 
St.  George's  was  a  part,  in  the  transition  from  the  old  order  to  the 
new.  One  of  these  lay  in  the  renewed  endeavors  persistently  pur- 
sued to  invalidate  the  Church's  title  to  its  landed  property  both 
by  its  enemies  in  the  Legislature  and  by  the  importunate  Bogardus 
claimants.  The  other  sprang  from  the  necessity  of  harmonizing  the 
Whig  Episcopalians,  as  they  called  themselves,  who  had  been  on 
the  patriot  side  and  those  who  had  adhered  to  the  King's  cause. 
The  former  were  not  acquiescent  in  the  Vestry's  action  in  calling 
Mr.  ]\Ioore  so  promptly  to  follow  Doctor  Inglis  in  the  rectorship, 
and  their  petition  to  the  "  Council  for  the  temporary  government 
of  the  southern  district  of  the  State  "  resulted  in  an  order  vesting  in 
nine  Trustees  "  the  possession  of  all  and  every  the  Estate  of  the  Cor- 
poration of  Trinity  Church  "  until  the  Legislature  should  act.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Provoost,  sometime  assistant  minister,  who  had  withdrawn 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  was  by  these  Trustees  invited  to 
take  charge  of  the  Churches — that  is,  St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's — 


THE    CHAPEL    PERIOD  39 

thus  ignoring  Mr.  Moore 's  rectorship,  who  promptly  declined  further 
to  officiate  pending  adjustment  of  the  matter  in  a  legal  way.  In  the 
"  Act  [of  April  17,  1784]  for  making  such  alteration  in  the  Charter 
of  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  as  to  render  it  the  more 
conformable  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State  "  a  new  Vestry  was 
named  as  petitioned  for  by  members  of  the  Church,  and  the  new 
Vestry  promptly  legalized  Mr.  Provoost  's  position  as  Rector.  Doctor 
Dix  observes  in  his  History  of  Trinity  Church : 

It  was  a  fortunate  thing  for  the  Parish,  at  that  moment,  that  its  head 
should  be  a  man,  not  only  of  high  repute  for  learning,  culture,  and  knowl- 
edge of  affairs,  but  also  identified  fi'om  the  beginning  with  the  cause  of  the 
American  Revolution,  and  enjoying  the  full  confidence  of  the  State  Govern- 
ment and  the  patriotic  citizens  of  New  York. 

He  was  a  man  of  courtly  manners  as  well  as  of  education  and 
refinement,  and  it  was  said  of  him  and  his  contemporary.  Doctor 
Livingston  of  the  Dutch  Church,  "  that  when  they  met  on  Sunday 
and  exchanged  salutations,  they  took  up  the  entire  street,  and  re- 
minded beholders  of  two  frigates  under  full  sail  exchanging  saluta- 
tions with  each  other." 

At  the  Convention  of  New  York,  held  in  June,  1786,  Doctor 
Provoost  was  elected  Bishop  and  sailed  for  England  in  company 
with  Dr.  William  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  his  brother  bishop-elect, 
with  ample  credentials  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  seeking 
Episcopal  Consecration. 

The  first  ordination  of  the  Bishop  of  New  York  on  his  return 
is  thus  recorded  by  the  Daily  Advertiser  of  October  20,  1787 : 

On  Sunday  last,  in  St.  George's  Chapel,  in  tliis  city,  Mr.  Richard  C. 
Moore  and  Mr.  Joseph  G.  J.  Bend  were  ordained  Deacons  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Samuel  Provoost  D.D.  Bishop  of  said  Church 
in  this  State.  These  gentlemen,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church,  are 
ordained  Deacons,  with  special  permission  to  preach;  and  it  is  requisite  they 
should  continue  Deacons  for  some  time,  previous  to  their  admission  into 
the  order  of  Priesthood. 

The  Chapel  was  unusually  crowded,  the  ceremonies  of  Episcopal  ordina- 
tion being  novel  in  America.  The  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  the  gTeat  good 
conduct  which  was  observed  through  eveiy  part  of  it,  and  an  excellent  Ser- 
mon, adapted  to  the  present  time  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore, 
with  an  admired  diction  and  eloquence  peculiar  to  him,  made  a  pleasing 
impression  on  the  audience. 

We  cannot,  on  this  occasion,  but  with  pleasure  reflect  that  the  Protestant 
episcopal  Church,  in  these  States  is  now  perfectly  organized,  and  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  each  Spiritual  privilege  (in  common  with  other  de- 
nominations) requisite  to  its  preservation  and  prosperity. 

The  rebuilding  of  Trinity  Church,  which  had  been  lying  for  twelve 
years  in  ruins,  was  begun  in  1788  and  completed  in  1790.     The 


40  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Daily  Gazette  of  November  12,  1789,  has  this  unique  reference  ta 
it  in  an  enthusiastic  account  of  various  improvements  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  city : 

But  amongst  all  the  numberless  improvements  carrying  forward  there  is 
none  tliat  desei'ves  approbation  more  than  the  New  Church  in  Broad- Way; 
the  Si^ire  of  which,  by  help  of  good  Conductors,  will  be  a  great  preservative 
against  lightning,  to  all  the  houses  situate  within  the  distance  of  Several 
hundred  paces,  and  particularly  so  to  the  Federal  Hall,  where  Congress 
meet. 

On  the  completion  of  the  building  pews  were  set  apart  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  Governor  of  the  State,  and 
members  of  Congress,  the  rest  being  disposed  of  at  public  auction 
sale  March  1,  1790,  and  the  church  was  then  consecrated  by  Bishop 
Provoost  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month.  Dr.  Abraham  Beach,  an 
assistant  minister,  preaching  from  the  apposite  text: 

And  Jacob  awaked  out  of  his  sleep,  and  he  said,  Surely  the  Loi'd  is 
in  this  place!  This  is  none  other  but  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
gate  of  Heaven. 

Bishop  Provoost  was  still  Rector  of  Trinity,  as  indeed  his  two 
immediate  successors  in  the  Episcopate,  Bishop  Moore  and  Bishop 
Hobart,  were  each  incumbents  of  both  offices  at  the  same  time.  Under 
his  wise  and  prudent  management,  the  old  prestige  and  influence 
was  gradually  regained  and  furthered.  The  parish  prospered,  and 
a  salutary  sign  thereof  was  handsome  increase  in  the  salaries  of  the 
parochial  clergy  and  the  adoption  of  the  policy  of  generous  bene- 
factions, out  of  the  rapidly  increasing  income  of  its  landed  property, 
to  new  and  struggling  parishes  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  State  which 
justly  entitles  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  to  the  honored  name  of 
**  Mother  of  Churches." 

Bishop  Provoost  resigned  the  rectorship  November  1,  1800,  but 
continued  to  exercise  episcopal  functions  until  September  3,  1801, 
his  last  ordination  being  to  admit  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart  to 
the  priesthood  in  April,  1801,  in  Trinity  Church.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Benjamin  Moore,  who,  at  the  close  of  the  rectorship  of  Doctor  Inglis, 
had  been  elected  Rector,  but  who,  owing  to  circumstances  already 
detailed,  did  not  enter  upon  the  office,  was  now  elected  Rector ;  and 
upon  the  resignation  of  Bishop  Provoost 's  jurisdiction  as  bishop  to 
his  own  Convention  and  to  the  President  of  the  House  of  Bishops 
in  September,  1801,  Doctor  Moore  was  elected  to  the  Episcopate  of 
New  York  September  5th  and  was  consecrated  on  the  11th  of  the 
same  month.  The  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart  became  assistant  min- 
ister September  8,  1800,  and  the  Rev.  Cave  Jones  in  January,  1801. 


THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD  41 

The  first  exercise  of  episcopal  functions  by  Bishop  Moore  was 
in  St.  George's  Chapel,  October  11,  1801,  on  which  occasion  he  ad- 
vanced a  deacon  to  the  priesthood,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Nash.  In  an 
appended  note  to  the  original  entry  he  wrote:  "  This  my  first 
Episcopal  duty,  I  have  performed.  By  God's  blessing  may  it  be 
beneficial  to  His  Church."  His  second  Confirmation  service,  the 
first  having  been  held  in  Trinity  Church,  was  in  St.  George's  Chapel, 
when  ninety-two  candidates  received  the  Laying-on-of-hands ;  on 
March  31,  1805,  he  confirmed  sixty-six  candidates,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hobart  reading  prayers,  and  forty-two  others  three  years  later. 

In  the  spring  of  1811  Bishop  IMoore  was  stricken  with  paralysis, 
and  on  his  nomination  the  Rev.  Doctor  Beach  was  appointed  As- 
sistant Rector  on  the  13tli  of  March.  The  Bishop  also  called  a 
Special  Convention  to  consider  the  propriety  of  appointing  an  as- 
sistant bishop,  at  which  Convention,  held  on  the  second  Tuesday  in 
May,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Hobart  was  elected  Assistant  Bishop  of  New 
York.  Bishop  Moore  becoming  incapacitated  for  the  discharge  of 
any  clerical  duty,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Beach  was  virtually  Rector  for  the 
next  two  years  and  Bishop  Hobart  discharged  all  the  duties  of  the 
Episcopate. 

As  we  approach  the  transition  from  the  Chapel  period  to  that 
of  St.  George's  independent  life,  it  is  fitting  we  should  note  con- 
ditions, civic  and  social,  political  and  ecclesiastical,  under  which 
St.  George's  Church  came  into  being  one  hundred  years  ago. 

The  city's  population  by  the  census  of  1810  was  96,373,  of  whom 
8,137  were  free  blacks  and  1,686  were  slaves.  The  number  of  names 
in  Longworth's  City  Directory  for  1811-12,  the  thirty-sixth  year  of 
national  independence,  was  17,500.  There  were  some  16,000  houses, 
mostly  of  wood,  though  there  were  many  structures  of  red  brick, 
some  with  slate  roofs.  The  common  type  of  house  was  three  stories 
with  low  basement  used  as  kitchen  or  cellar,  with  dormer  windows 
protruding  from  the  peaked  roof  of  the  upper  story,  of  which  type 
there  are  a  few  still  standing  in  the  older  sections  of  the  city.  Some 
of  the  more  pretentious  dwellings  had  roofs  with  a  flat  space  in  the 
middle  enclosed  by  a  railing  and  slanting  to  front  and  rear.  The 
prevailing  color  of  the  paint  on  wooden  houses  was  white  or  red, 
and  even  if  the  front  was  white  the  back  was  generally  red.  The 
red  sandstone  back  of  the  City  Hall  as  originally  built  was  a  re- 
minder of  that  ancient  fashion,  the  front  and  sides  being  of  marble. 
The  occupancy  of  this  City  Hall  dates  from  July  4,  1811,  its  erection 
having  been  begun  in  1803  and  now  completed  at  a  cost  of  five  hun- 


42  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

dred  thousand  dollars.  The  park  in  which  it  stood,  which  then 
included  the  site  of  the  present  Post  Office,  was  surrounded  by  a 
picket  fence.  The  Bridewell,  or  city  prison,  stood  close  beside  it 
on  the  west  on  Broadway;  the  jail,  or  debtors'  prison,  which  later 
became  the  Hall  of  Records,  but  recently  demolished,  stood  on  the 
Chatham  Street  side  of  the  City  Hall,  while  the  Almshouse  and 
Engine-house  stood  in  the  rear.  The  "  Old  Government  House," 
in  which  were  included  the  Custom  House  and  Federal  Courts, 
stood  on  the  south  side  of  Bowling  Green,  practically  on  the  site 
on  which  the  new  Custom  House  has  recently  been  erected. 

The  maritime  trade  centered  on  the  East  River  front.  Sea-going 
commerce  was  the  leading  pursuit.  The  shipping  business,  with 
its  accompanying  wealth,  was  in  few  hands.  The  registered  tonnage 
was  equal  to  that  of  Boston  and  Philadelphia  combined,  though  the 
latter  city  had  nearly  as  many  inhabitants  and  more  extensive 
manufacturing  concerns.  New  York  was,  therefore,  the  chief  com- 
mercial emporium  of  the  country  and  in  1769  had  established  a 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  The  distribution  of  incoming  cargoes  was 
largely  made  through  auction  sales.  The  wholesale  dealers  were 
chiefly  located  on  Pearl  and  Broad  streets  and  on  Hanover  Square. 
On  Water,  Front,  and  South  streets  were  extensive  warehouses. 
"William  Street  from  "Wall  to  Fulton  was  the  shopping  street  for 
ladies'  retail  trade,  especially  in  dry  goods.  On  Broadway  below 
Leonard  Street  and  on  Wall  and  State  streets  stood  residences  of 
prominent  citizens,  and  in  Pine,  Beekman,  and  Pearl  streets  many 
homes  were  located.  On  the  west  side  Greenwich  Street  was  more 
closely  built  than  any  other  and  contained  six  hundred  numbered 
houses.  Washington  Street  had  but  a  few  scattered  buildings.  There 
was  no  West  Street  then  and  boat-landings  came  up  to  Washington. 

The  Post  Office  was  located  on  the  southwest  corner  of  William 
Street  and  Garden  Street  (now  Exchange  Place).  The  postmaster, 
Theodorus  Bailey,  lived  in  the  house  and  held  the  office  for  some 
twenty-five  years  until  1827.  He  was  assisted  by  two  or  three 
clerks.  The  rate  of  postage  was  eight  to  twenty-five  cents,  accord- 
ing to  distance,  on  one  sheet  of  paper  of  foolscap  size  or  less. 
Delivery  by  carrier  was  a  private  enterprise  of  the  postmaster,  for 
which  he  made  a  charge.  There  was  one  mail  daily  between  New 
York  and  Washington,  the  transit  occupying  thirty-six  hours. 

The  habits  of  the  merchants  involved  late  hours.  Little  business 
was  done  before  nine  or  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  but  many  shops 
were  kept  open  till  nine  o'clock  at  night.  Men  in  business  dined 
at  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  but  four  o'clock  was  the 


THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD  43 

fashionable  hour.  Mechanics  worked  evenings  from  October  to 
April. 

The  sidewalks  were  of  brick,  a  few  of  stone.  The  pavement  on 
Broadway  ended  at  Worth  Street,  the  sidewalk  at  Leonard  Street. 
There  were  two  crossings  at  the  sluggish  waterway  which  gave  place 
to  Canal  Street — one  at  Broadway,  the  other  at  Greenwich  Street. 
To  the  north  of  this  were  only  a  few  scattered  buildings  whose 
residents  were  regarded  as  "  living  out  in  the  country."  On  the 
Bowery  line,  however,  the  city  was  built  up  as  far  as  North  Street, 
now  called  Houston.  The  streets  were  lighted  by  whale-oil  lamps 
and  were  swept  twice  a  week,  every  man  being  responsible  for  the 
sweeping  in  front  of  his  own  house.  Garbage  was  collected  by  the 
"  bell-man,"  as  the  scavenger  was  called.  Bakers  peddled  bread 
and  cake  in  baskets,  and  milkmen,  with  a  yoke  on  their  shoulders 
from  which  were  suspended  two  tin  pails,  furnished  the  milk.  Small 
negro  boys  were  the  chimney-sweeps,  licensed  by  the  city.  The 
household  servants  were  largely  blacks  and  mulattoes,  some  slaves, 
some  free,  but  there  were  also  white  domestics.  Water  was  ill- 
supplied  by  the  Manhattan  Company,  which  had  secured  control 
of  public  sources  of  supply  and  was  incorporated  in  1799,  Its 
water  was  distributed  through  bored  wooden  logs  from  the  reservoir 
in  Chambers  Street  and  obtained  by  the  people  from  pumps  and 
wells  located  in  the  streets.  There  were  also  private  wells  and 
cisterns,  but  the  best  esteemed  source  of  water-supply  was  the  ' '  Tea 
Water  Pump,"  located  in  Chatham  Street  near  Pearl,  which  was  of 
superior  quality,  and  the  water  was  carted  in  hogsheads  and  de- 
livered to  customers  about  the  city. 

To  understand  the  social  life  of  New  York  at  this  period,  it  is 
necessary  to  recall  the  conditions  which  existed  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion, when  social  distinctions  were  well  defined  and  undisputed.  The 
original  Dutch  proprietors  of  the  vast  landed  estates,  many  of  whom 
had  city  houses,  and  the  successful  merchants  of  the  olden  time, 
were  the  aristocracy  of  that  day  and  founded  families  whose  mem- 
bers in  successive  generations  filled  the  places  of  oiScial  dignity  and 
ruled  society.  Under  the  English  governors,  the  men  from  over-sea, 
who  were  high-bred,  intelligent,  identified  with  government,  as- 
similated readily  with  the  Dutch  gentry,  intermarried  with  them, 
and  there  resulted  that  social,  political,  and  exclusive  class  of 
culture  and  refinement  which  constituted  the  colonial  aristocracy 
before  the  Revolution.  The  men  dressed  with  elaborate  care  in 
costumes  of  the  period  of  English  importation.  French  fashions 
were  affected  bv  the  ladies.     Small  merchants  and  house  -  owners 


44  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

moved  in  a  lower  social  scale,  and  then  came  clerks,  mechanics, 
servants,  and  slaves.  But  difference  in  social  rank  was  not  made 
the  occasion  for  an  aggravating  insolence  nor  did  it  seem  to  engender 
bitterness.  The  Kevolution,  with  its  democratic  tendencies,  however, 
swept  away  the  political  power  of  the  ruling  class,  which  in  the 
main  was  Tory  and  loyal  to  King  George;  and  with  the  loss  of 
power  and  wealth  social  supremacy  was  doomed.  But  there  were 
many  of  the  gentry  who  espoused  the  patriots'  cause,  and  when 
the  war  was  over  it  was  but  natural  that  these  should  still  be  leaders 
in  affairs  and  in  the  social  life  of  the  rejuvenated  and  fast-growing 
city.  So  that  in  1811  we  find  such  scions  of  these  older  families  as 
were  themselves  entitled  to  respect  and  leadership,  exerting  powerful 
influence  in  State  and  Church. 

The  customs  and  the  manners  of  pre  -  Revolutionary  times  still 
lingered.  Clothing  still  came  from  England  and  from  France, 
while  some  adhered  to  the  small  clothes,  cocked  hat,  and  hair  in 
queues  which  characterized  the  earlier  generation.  The  most  im- 
portant day  in  all  the  year  was  New  Year's  Day,  which  was  em- 
ployed in  the  exchange  of  ceremonious  calls,  with  cake  and  wine 
and  punch  provided  for  all  guests.  New  York  did  not  go  dry  in 
1811.  There  were  one  hundred  and  sixty  taverns  and  thirteen  hun- 
dred and  three  groceries  licensed  to  sell  strong  drinks.  But  despite 
such  ample  provision  for  the  bibulous,  our  ancestors  in  those  days 
were  without  what  we  esteem  essential  modern  comforts.  They  had 
no  friction  matches,  no  stove-coal  for  cooking  or  heating,  and,  of 
course,  no  hot  -  air  furnaces,  no  gas  -  lights,  no  hot  or  cold  water 
running  in  house  or  yard,  no  ice  for  domestic  use,  no  free  letter- 
carriers  or  messenger-boys,  no  omnibuses  or  street-cars,  no  railroads, 
telegraphs  or  telephones,  electric  light  or  automobiles ;  but  doubtless 
they  were  comfortable  according  to  their  lights. 

Of  public  institutions  there  were  five  banks,  ten  insurance  com- 
panies, and  six  markets.  The  New  York  Historical  Society,  or- 
ganized 1804,  the  Society  Library,  established  1754,  which  was 
located  on  Nassau  Street  between  Cedar  and  Liberty,  and  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts,  incorporated  1808,  ministered  to  the 
literary  and  artistic  tastes  of  the  people.  There  was  an  orphan 
asylum  society  and  a  few  benevolent  or  social  organizations.  The 
New  Y'ork  Manumission  Society  maintained  the  schoolhouse  in  the 
rear  of  St.  George's.  The  beginnings  of  the  Public  School  system 
date  from  1807.  The  New  York  Hospital  stood  on  Broadway  be- 
tween Duane  and  Anthony  (now  Worth  Street)  ;  it  embraced  a 
lunatic  asylum  and  lying-in  department.     Columbia  College,  con- 


THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD  45 

sisting  of  two  buildings,  was  located  on  the  College  Green  which  oc- 
cupied the  two  blocks  between  Murray  and  Barclay  streets  and  from 
Church  Street  to  Chapel  Street  (later  called  College  Place  and  now 
West  Broadway).  The  only  theater  in  1811  was  the  old  Park 
Theater  on  what  is  now  Park  Row.  The  new  Olympic  was  opened 
in  the  following  year.  There  were  eight  daily  papers  and  Tlie 
ChvrcJiman  Magazine. 

Of  churches  there  were  fifty -two  in  all.  There  were  Trinity  and 
its  chapels,  St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's,  the  third  chapel,  St.  John's, 
having  been  begun  in  1803  and  completed  in  1807.  The  following 
eight  congregations  had  been  organized  and  taken  precedence  of  St. 
George's,  which  was  some  fifty  years  or  more  their  elder,  through 
admission  to  the  Convention  as  independent  integers  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York;  St.  Mark's  in  the  Bowery  was  organized  October  10, 
1799 ;  Christ  Church,  built  in  1793  on  Ann  Street  near  Nassau,  was 
admitted  into  union  in  1802 ;  the  French  Church  du  St.  Esprit, 
located  on  Pine  Street  near  Nassau,  was  organized  in  1804,  it  having 
been  a  French  Huguenot  church  since  1687;  St.  Stephen's  on 
Broome,  corner  of  Chrystie,  April  12,  1805;  St.  Michael's,  Bloom- 
ingdale,  in  1807;  Grace  Church  on  Broadway,  corner  of  Rector,  in 
1808;  St.  James's  on  Hamilton  Square  was  admitted  into  union 
1810;  Zion  Church,  on  Mott  Street,  corner  of  Cross,  was  incor- 
porated March  13,  1810,  the  congregation  and  its  minister  having 
previously  been  Lutheran.  All  of  these  churches  were  materially 
aided  by  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  and  in  most  cases  large  grants 
of  valuable  land  were  made.  Besides  the  twelve  Episcopal  churches, 
there  were  eleven  Presbyterian  of  four  varieties;  seven  Reformed 
Dutch;  six  Methodist;  two  African  Methodist;  four  Baptist  with 
one  Abyssinian  Baptist ;  two  Roman  Catholic ;  of  German  Re- 
formed, Evangelical  Lutheran,  Moravian,  and  Universalist  one  each ; 
two  Friends'  Meeting-houses,  and  one  Synagogue. 

Such  was  New  York  in  181].  It  was  the  year  when  the  Com- 
missioners who  had  been  ' '  empowered  to  lay  out  streets,  roads,  and 
public  squares  of  such  width  and  extent  as  to  them  should  seem 
most  conducive  to  the  public  good,"  Gouverneur  Morris,  Simeon 
De  Witt,  and  John  Rutherfurd  filed  their  Report  on  April  1st — 
that  admirable  document  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  the  sym- 
metrical street  plan  by  which  the  city  of  the  future  was  laid  out  on 
paper,  from  North  Street,  now  Houston,  on  the  east  and  Clinton 
Place  and  Greenwich  Avenue  on  the  west  to  155tli  Street,  and  in 
accordance  with  whose  lines  the  city 's  growth  has  been  accomplished. 

It  was  the  year  of  the  great  fire  w^hich  broke  out  in  May  at  the 


46  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

corner  of  Duane  and  Chatham  streets  which  caught  the  cupola  of 
the  jail  and  the  steeple  of  the  Brick  Church,  both  of  which  public 
buildings,  however,  were  preserved  from  the  destruction  which  over- 
took so  many  lesser  structures. 

It  was  the  year  when  De  Witt  Clinton's  bill  became  a  law, 
April  8,  1811,  investing  commissioners  "  with  power  to  manage  all 
matters  relating  to  the  navigation  between  the  Hudson  and  the 
Lakes,"  thus  making  possible  the  Erie  Canal  which  in  earlier  years 
did  so  incalculably  much  for  the  commerce  of  the  State. 

It  was  the  year  when  on  May  13th  the  corner-stone  of  Tammany 
Hall  was  laid  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Nassau  and  Frankfort 
streets,  the  Tammany  Society  having  been  incorporated  as  a  benevo- 
lent organization  six  years  before,  meeting  in  Fraunces'  Tavern; 
and  it  was  the  year  of  its  open  revolt  against  the  candidate  of  its 
party  for  Lieutenant-Governor  in  the  State  election  which  took  place 
in  April,  1811. 

It  was  the  j^ear  of  the  political  excitement  which  heralded  the 
declaration  of  the  War  of  1812  against  Great  Britain,  the  growing 
certainty  of  which  divided  popular  interest  with  the  controversies 
about  "  Clinton's  Ditch." 

Brooklyn  at  this  date  was  an  unincorporated  village  of  some 
fifteen  hundred  inhabitants.  Jersey  City  was  known  as  Powle's 
Hook,  which  boasted  one  tavern  and  one  store.  Hoboken  was  even 
smaller.  Ferries  were  maintained  by  horse-power  boats  with  a  tread- 
mill wheel  in  the  center  and  barges  rowed  by  men  carried  pas- 
sengers. The  first  steam  ferry  to  the  Jersey  side  was  inaugurated 
in  October,  1811,  and  one  to  Brooklyn  followed  three  years  later. 

In  ecclesiastical  affairs  there  was  in  the  Episcopal  Church  a  much- 
perturbed  condition,  owing  chiefly  to  the  Hobart-Jones  Controversy. 
The  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  had  been 
called  to  an  assistantship  in  Trinity  Church  in  September,  1800, 
and  the  Rev.  Cave  Jones  to  a  similar  position  only  four  months 
later.  The  former  having  been  prominently  named  for  the  vacant 
Bishopric  of  New  York,  it  was  inevitable  that  the  candidacy  of 
one  of  such  pronounced  views,  and  though  so  young  already  a  leader 
of  opinion  in  the  Church,  should  arouse  opposition  on  the  part  of 
those  whose  doctrinal  opinions  were  at  variance  witli  his.  In  the  case 
of  his  fellow-assistant  minister,  a  personal  antagonism  so  intensified 
his  conviction  of  the  unfitness  of  Doctor  Hobart  for  the  episcopal 
office  that  he  precipitated  what  proved  to  be  a  long  and  bitter  con- 
troversy into  which  most  of  the  prominent  clerg3^men  and  laymen 


THE     CHAPEL    PERIOD  47 

of  the  day  were  unhappily  drawn.  He  published  a  pamphlet  en- 
titled *'  A  Solemn  Appeal  to  the  Church,  being  a  plain  statement 
of  Facts  in  the  Matters  pending  between  Doctor  H.  with  others  and 
the  Author."  The  publication  of  this  pamphlet  in  May,  1811,  while 
it  failed  to  defeat  the  election  of  Doctor  Hobart  to  the  Bishopric, 
did  incalculable  harm  to  the  Church  through  the  heated  strife  which 
it  precipitated.  Pamphlet  after  pamphlet  followed  one  another  in 
quick  succession  until  over  twenty  "  Statements,"  "  Remarks," 
"  Addresses,"  etc.,  had  been  contributed  to  the  bibliography  of  the 
subject.  That  "  Mr.  Jones  was  a  man  of  blameless  repute  "  and 
that  ''up  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  unfortunate  controversy  he 
had  been  held  in  high  regard  by  the  Corporation  and  in  loving 
esteem  by  the  people  to  whom  he  ministered  "  is  the  testimony 
which  the  late  Rector  of  Trinity  has  recorded  of  him  in  his  History 
of  the  Parish.  He  further  says:  "  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  Mr, 
Jones 's  sincerity ;  the  impress  of  candor  is  on  his  production ;  but 
his  judgment  was  at  fault,  and  after  all  is  said  and  done  the  main 
point  brought  out  is  this,  that  men  of  very  different  temperaments 
were  most  unfortunately  yoked  together.  Doctor  Hobart  was 
brusque,  irritable,  and  inclined  to  domineer;  Mr.  Jones,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  morbid  and  apt  to  magnify  and  brood  over  dif- 
ferences until,  unable  to  subdue  his  feelings,  he  finally  rushed  into 
print  with  his  '  Solemn  Appeal. '  ' ' 

The  Vestry  of  Trinity  treated  the  matter  dispassionately  and 
fairly.  They  deprecated  the  controversy  between  its  assistant  min- 
isters and  deplored  the  reproach  thereby  brought  upon  the  cause 
of  religion.  The  congregation  of  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  in  which  Mr. 
Jones  had  chiefly  exercised  his  ministry,  stood  loyally  by  him,  and 
the  Vestry  was  ready  to  permit  that  Chapel  to  become  an  inde- 
pendent church,  "  that  the  people  might  elect  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jones 
as  its  Rector."  Some  months,  however,  after  the  consecration  of 
Bishop  Hobart,  the  proposal  for  the  separation  of  the  Chapels  re- 
maining still  unanswered,  a  committee  of  the  Vestry  reported,  Sep- 
tember 5,  1811,  as  follows:  "  In  respect  to  the  disorderly  state  of 
Trinity  Church  and  its  Chapels,  proceeding  from  the  misbehaviour 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jones  and  which  became  the  subject  of  the  early 
animadversion  of  the  Vestry,  the  committee  are  constrained  to  de- 
clare that  in  their  opinion  the  peace  of  the  Church  cannot  be  re- 
established so  long  as  the  connection  between  the  Vestry  and  the 
Rev,  Mr.  Jones  remains  undissolved. ' '  The  whole  matter  was  finally 
submitted  to  arbitration,  but  it  was  not  until  October  30,  1813,  that 
the  final  judgment  was  rendered  by  the  arbitrators  and  a  large  sum 


48  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

of  money  awarded  to  Mr.  Jones  in  full  settlement  of  all  his  claims 
against  the  Corporation.  To  prevent  the  recurrence  of  a  similar 
refusal,  on  the  part  of  any  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  parish  to 
retire  when  the  Vestry  should  deem  his  usefulness  at  an  end,  a 
special  resolution  was  adopted  which  still  remains  in  force:  "  That 
the  assistant  ministers  employed  by  this  Corporation  (other  than 
the  assistant  rector)  are  considered  as  holding  their  offices  during 
the  pleasure  of  the  Vestry." 

Note. — The  font  referred  to  on  page  24  was  a  European  product,  finely 
sculptured,  originally  destined  for  a  South  American  cathedral,  but  which 
had  found  its  way  to  New  York  on  board  a  naval  prize.  A  fine  bell  costing 
£88  3s  2d  was  hung  in  the  belfiy. 


CHAPTER   III 

ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP 

(1811-1816) 

The  following  resolution  adopted  by  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church, 
June  13,  1811,  introduces  us  to  a  consideration  of  the  steps  by  which 
St.  George's  Chapel  became  an  independent  corporation: 

Resolved,  That  from  the  circumstances  and  situation  of  the  Congrega- 
tions associated  with  Trinity  Church  it  has  become  expedient  that  the  Con- 
nection between  Trinity  Church  and  St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's  Chapels 
be  dissolved,  and  that  the  said  chapels  be  endowed  and  established  as  Sepa- 
rate Churches  in  like  manner  as  Grace  Church  has  been  established. 

It  was  further  resolved  "  that  the  foregoing  resolution  be  re- 
ferred to  a  committee  to  devise  and  report  a  plan  for  carrying  into 
effect  the  objects  therein  referred  to  "  and  Messrs.  King,  Harison, 
Clarkson,  Leroy  and  Raymond  were  elected  by  ballot  to  constitute 
the  committee;  and  on  July  11th  the  Vestry  specifically  "  authorized 
this  committee  to  confer  with  the  committees  of  the  pew-holders  of 
these  chapels  on  the  subject  of  the  said  resolution."  Meanwhile 
committees  had  been  designated  by  the  people  of  both  chapels  and 
the  subject  duly  and  jointly  considered.  On  the  fifth  of  September 
the  committee  of  the  Vestry  reported  as  follows : 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  resolution  of  the  Vestry,  con- 
cerning the  separation  of  St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's  Chapels,  respectfully 
report  that  they  liave  conferred  with  the  committees  appointed  for  tliis 
purpose  by  the  congregations  of  St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's.  In  the  course 
of  this  conference,  they  have  stated  and  explained  the  reasons  which  have 
influenced  the  Vestry  to  propose  a  separation,  and  have  moreover  answered, 
in  their  best  discretion,  such  queries  as  have  been  made  by  these  committees 
respecting  the  endowment  of  the  said  chapels  and  concerning  those  matters 
about  which  information  was  desired.  Hitherto  the  committee  have  re- 
ceived no  definite  communication  from  the  committees  of  the  two  chapels. 
Further  conferences  may  be  deemed  requisite,  and  some  time  may  yet  be 
necessary  to  enable  these  congregations  to  form  a  satisfactory  determina- 
4 


50  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

tion.    Whenever  this  shall  be  done,  no  time  will  be  lost  in  laying  the  same 
before  the  Vesti-y. 

On  the  4tli  of  November  the  committee  submitted  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Vestry  a  report  embodying  three  papers,  which 
in  view  of  their  importance  here  follow  in  full.  The  first  was  a 
series  of  questions  proposed  by  the  committee  of  St.  George's  Chapel, 
the  second  contains  the  answers  which,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
Vestry,  had  been  made  by  the  committee  of  Trinity,  and  the  third 
is  a  certificate  of  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  approving  the 
terms  of  separation  expressed  in  the  foregoing  papers. 

ST.  George's  questions 

"We  the  subscribers  appointed  a  committee  by  the  congregation  of  St. 
George's  Chapel  to  confer  with  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  on  the  subject 
of  a  separate  Establishment  of  said  Chapel,  knowing  the  extreme  solicitude 
of  said  congregation  to  be  minutely  and  correctly  informed  of  eveiy  cir- 
cumstance relative  to  their  separate  standing  in  the  event  of  a  separation 
taking  place  from  Trinity  Church,  do,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  the 
congregation  they  represent,  on  this  occasion  request  written  replies  to  the 
following  questions : 

First. — Will  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  endow  St.  George's 
Chapel  with  property  in  lands  out  on  leases  at  low  rents  that  will  produce 
a  present  revenue  of  three  thousand  dollars"? 

Second. — To  what  amount  will  the  above  endowment  be  increased,  pro- 
vided a  grant  can  be  obtained  from  the  Legislature  of  the  State  for  ex- 
tending the  funds  of  the  Corporation  of  said  Chapel;  and  until  said  grant 
can  be  obtained,  will  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  agree  to  pay  to 
the  order  of  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Chapel  such  additional  siuns  as 
may  be  wanted  to  support  their  Establishment? 

Third. — Are  the  congi-egation  of  St.  George's  Chapel  to  look  upon  them- 
selves as  a  branch  of  the  family  of  Trinity  Church,  and  in  case  their  funds 
should  be  found  inadequate  to  defrajdng  the  yearly  expenses,  keeping  the 
Church  in  repair,  etc.,  or  to  repair  or  rebuild  their  property  if  injured 
or  destroyed  by  fire,  will  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  continue  to  view 
said  Chapel  as  the  eldest  child  of  the  family  entitled  to  every  needful 
assistance,  or  is  the  present  proposed  separation  to  be  considered  as  pre- 
cluding them  from  eveiy  future  aid  or  assistance  from  the  mother  Church? 

Fourth. — Will  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Chapel  in  the  event  of  a  sepa- 
ration taking  place,  be  entitled  to  frefpient  and  unqualified  conferences 
with  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  in  all  things  relative  to  their  mutual 
interests  and  support? 

Fifth. — Are  the  Vestiy  or  eongi-egation  of  St.  George's  Chapel  to  be 
perfectly  free  to  call  sucli  minister  or  ministers  as  they  please  without  any 
control  from  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church? 

Sixth. — Will  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  enlarge  the  yard  of  said 
Chapel  by  purchasing  some  ground  adjoining  thereto;  erect  a  public  vault 
or  vault?  therein,  build  a  vestry-room,  and  provide  a  permanent  and  suit- 
able dwelling-house  for  the  Rector? 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  51 

Seventh. — Will  they  enclose  said  yard  when  enlarged  with  a  suitable  wall 
and  fence  similar  to  that  of  St.  Paul's? 

Eighth. — Is  there  any  discrimination  contemplated  respecting  the  inter- 
ment of  the  dead  who  are  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  burial- 
grounds  of  each  Church,  or  are  they  to  remain  as  heretofore  open  to  all? 

Ninth. — Is  the  amount  of  pew  rents  in  St.  George's  Chapel  to  be  in- 
eluded  in  the  sum  set  off  for  its  maintenance  and  considered  as  a  part  of 
the  revenues  of  said  Chapel? 

Tenth. — Is  the  present  free  school  to  be  considered  as  exclusively  belong- 
ing to  Trinity  Church,  or  are  the  Churches  that  may  be  separated  there- 
from to  have  equal  rights  therein,  and  are  annual  collections  to  be  made 
in  them  for  its  support;  and  in  case  it  should  be  necessary  to  have  a  free 
school  of  our  own,  will  Trinity  Church  afford  us  suitable  assistance  for 
that  purpose? 

Eleventh. — In  case  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Chapel  should  think  it 
necessaiy  and  proper  to  have  an  assistant  minister  to  their  Rector,  will  the 
Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  give  them  such  aid  as  may  be  neeessai-y  to  enable 
them  to  support  liim? 

Harry  Peters.  Jno.  Whitten. 

Isaac  Lawrence.        John  Greene. 
ROBT.  Wardell. 

trinity's  answers 

To  the  first  and  second  questions. — The  endowment  shall  be  in  lands  suf- 
ficient to  yield  a  permanent  annual  revenue  of  three  thousand  dollars.  In 
case  the  present  rents  fall  short  of  this  sum,  Trinity  Church  will  annually 
make  up  the  deficiency;  and  whenever  St.  George's  Chapel  shall  by  law  be 
enabled  to  receive  the  same  the  permanent  endowment  shall  be  increased  to 
four  thousand  dollars;  in  the  mean  time,  if  the  income  of  St.  George's 
shall  be  insufficient  to  defray  their  annual  expenses,  the  deficiency,  not 
exceeding  one  thousand  dollars  a  year,  shall  be  supplied  by  Trinity  Church. 

Third  question. — Trinity  Church  will  cherish  the  recollection  of  their 
union  with  St.  George's  and  will  be  always  disposed,  according  to  their 
abilities,  to  assist  St.  George's  in  their  necessities. 

Fourth  question. — In  every  matter  affecting  their  mutual  harmony  and 
prosperity,  Trinity  Church  will  freely  and  sincerely  confer  with  St.  George's, 
it  being  their  opinion  that  these  conferences  should  be  conducted  by  com- 
mittees of  the  respective  Vestries. 

Fifth  question. — St.  George's  will  choose  their  own  minister  without  any 
interference  or  control  on  the  part  of  Trinity  Church. 

Sixth  and  seventh  questions. — Trinity  Church  will  build  or  purchase  for 
St.  George's  a  parsonage  house,  and  until  this  can  be  conveniently  done 
they  will  hire  a  house  for  the  minister.  As  soon  as  their  funds  will  permit 
they  will  likewise  erect  a  vestr\'-room.  enlarge  the  churchyard,  and  enclose 
the  same.     They  do  not  approve  the  making  of  publick  vaults. 

Eighth  question. — The  dead  to  be  buried  as  heretofore  and  without  dis- 
crimination between  the  churches. 

Ninth  question. — The  endowment  to  be  exclusive  of  pew  rents,  which  will 
be  regulated  and  applied  by  St.  George's. 

Tenth  question. — The  present  Charity  School  is  founded  for  the  common 


52 


HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 


benefit  of  the  Episcopalians  of  the  city.  It  is  governed  by  its  own  Trustees 
and  not  by  Trinity  Church;  it  is,  therefore,  expected  that  annual  collections 
will  be  made  in  all  the  churches  toward  the  support  of  tliis  school;  and 
should  others  become  necessaiy,  that  they  be  founded  on  the  same  compre- 
hensive principle. 

Eleventh  question. — Should  the  Rector  of  St.  George's,  thro'  age  or 
infirmity,  be  at  any  time  unable  to  perform  his  customary  duties,  Trinity 
Church  will  assist  St.  George's  in  the  support  of  an  assistant. 


CERTIFICATE    OF    THE    CONGREGATION 

We  the  Subscribers  of  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  Chapel,  having 
read  and  considered  the  tex'ms  proposed  by  a  committee  of  the  Vestry  of 
Trinity  Church  for  a  Separate  Establishment  of  said  Chapel,  are  of  opinion 
that  it  will  be  conducive  to  the  mutual  interest,  harmony  and  prosperity  of 
said  churches  to  separate  on  the  terms  proposed,  and  we  do  most  cordially 
approve  of  the  same  and  are  desirous  that  it  be  carried  into  effect  as  soon 
as  can  be  conveniently  done. 


(Signed)  : 

Harry  Peters. 

Isaac  Lawrence. 

Isaac  Carow. 

John  Greene. 

Robert  Wardell. 

Abram  R.  Smedes. 

Samuel  Stansbury. 

Robert  Bogardus. 

James  D.  L.  Walton. 

Walter  Mitchell. 

A.  Hamilton. 

Hugh  Wishart. 

Benj.  Halstead. 

Jolm  C.  Halstead. 

Jacob  Leonard. 

John  Ruckel,  Jr. 

Ezekiel  Bishop. 

Wm.  Rollinson. 

Peter  Urban. 

J.  Schieffelin. 

Gei'rit  H.  Van  Wagenen. 


Samuel  A.  Biu'tus. 
Francis  Ogsbury. 
D.  R.  Lambert. 
Edw.  Higgins. 
William  Phelp. 
Alex'r  Ogsbury. 
Gilbert  Haight. 
John  Mason. 
Jno.  Whetten. 
Thos.  Lawranee. 
William  IMclntire. 
Sam'l  Thoi'ne. 
J.  D.  Chambers. 
Luke  Ki]}. 
Geo.  H.  Clussman. 
R.  Crommelin. 
Thos.  Cadle. 
W.  H.  Ward. 
Wm.  H.  Smith. 
Dan'l  S.  Robertson. 


Edward  Seabuiy. 
[John  Titus. 
Daniel  Kingsland. 
James  S.  Stringham. 
Willet  Coles. 
Quintin  Millen. 
John  Onderdonk. 
Jolm  B.  Tredwell. 
Cornelius  Schermerhorn. 
Moses  Judah. 
John  Bloodgood. 
E.  W.  Laight. 
Francis  Dominiek. 
John  Clark. 
Jno.  Jas.  Lambert. 
Wm.  Smith. 
Tyler  Maynard. 
Jolm  P.  ScheiTuerhorn. 
Gerardus  Post. 
Elijah  Humphrey. 


The  report  thus  presented,  embodying  the  three  foregoing  papers 
"  being  maturely  weighed  and  considered,  it  was  thereupon  resolved 
as  follows : 

First,  Besolved,  That  the  Rector,  church  wardens,  and  vestrymen  of 
Trinity  Church  do  approve  and  agi'ee  to  the  separation  of  St.  George's 
Chapel  upon  the  terms  expressed  in  the  aforesaid  report  and  do  engage 
and  promise  to  do  and  perform  all  things  which  according  to  the  tenor 
thereof  ought  to  be  done  and  performed  on  tlieir  part,  provided  always 
and  this  promise  as  well  as  its  performance  is  upon  the  express  condition 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  53 

that  the   Church  so   separated  be  and  shall  continue  in   union  with  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

Second,  Resolved,  That  a  certified  copy  of  the  aforesaid  report  and 
resolution  be  delivered  to  Harry  Peters,  Isaac  Lawrence,  Robert  Wardell, 
John  Whetten,  John  Greene,  the  committee  appointed  by  the  congregation 
of  St.  George's,  and  that  they  be  and  hereby  are  desired  as  soon  as  may 
be,  to  commimicate  the  same  to  the  said  congregation  in  order  that  the 
requisite  measures  may  be  talien  to  become  incorporated  by  the  name  of 
the  Rector,  church  wardens,  and  vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church  in  the 
City  of  New  Yoi'k. 

I  certify  the  foregoing  to  be  a  true  extract  from  the  minutes  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York 
at  a  meeting  of  the  said  Vestry  held  in  the  said  church  on  the  fourth  day 
of  November  in  the  vear  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eleven. 

Dated  this  7  November,  181  J.  T.  L.  Ogden,  Clerk." 

It  may  be  noted  that  four  of  those  signing  the  Certificate  of 
Incorporation  were  members  of  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church — 
Messrs.  Van  Wagenen,  Dominick,  Laight,  and  Onderdonk. 

All  preliminary  arrangements  having  been  thus  happily  com- 
pleted, St.  George's  became  an  independent  church,  as  is  evidenced 
by  the  Act  of  Incorporation,  vt'hich  includes  the  names  of  the  original 
wardens  and  vestrymen  and  which  important  document  is  here  re- 
produced. 

ACT   OF   INCORPORATION 

AVe,  the  subscribers,  do  certify  that  the  congTCgation  of  St.  George's 
Chapel  in  the  City  of  New  York,  have  this  day  met  for  the  purpose  of 
incorporating  themselves  as  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  under  the 
name  or  title  of  the  Rector,  church  wardens  and  vestrymen  of  St.  George's 
Church  in  the  City  of  New  York,  and  they  have  accordingly  elected  Gemt 
H.  Van  "Wagenen  and  Harry  Peters,  church  wardens;  and  Francis  Domi- 
nick, John  Onderdonk,  Isaac  Carow.  .Jolin  Greene,  Isaac  Lawrence,  Ed- 
ward TV.  Laight,  Robert  Wardell,  and  Cornelius  Schermerhora,  vestrymen, 
to  hold  their  offices  respectively  until  Tuesday  of  Easter  week  next  en- 
suing the  date  hereof,  at  which  time  and  annually  thereafter  on  each 
Tuesday  of  Easter  w^eek  are  to  be  chosen  two  church  wardens  and  eight 
vestrs^men  as  successors  to  those  then  in  otlSce.  In  witness  whereof  we 
have  hereunto  set  our  hands  and  seals  this  nineteenth  day  of  November  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eleven. 

Signed  and  sealed  in  the  pres-  f  y^%    \ 

ence  of  (  ^§    )      John  Titus,  Chairman  (L.  S.), 

Wm.  Ustick,  f  ^S  ^      '^"^-  ^^^^tten  (L.  S.), 

Thos.  Lawranee,  (  |  H'   J      Isaac  Burr  (L.  S.). 

Sam'l  Gedney.  \       g'  f 

[Endorsement]  City  of  New  York  s.s.  Be  it  remembered  that  on  the- 
20th  day  of  November,  1811,  appeared  before  me  De  Witt  Clinton,  Mayor 


54  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

of  the  City  of  New  York,  the  within-named  John  Titus,  John  Whetten, 
and  Isaac  Burr,  personally  known  to  me,  and  acknowledged  personally  that 
they  signed  and  sealed  as  their  voluntary  act  and  deed  the  within  certificate 
respecting  the  incorporation  of  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  City 
of  New  York  under  the  name  or  style  of  the  Rector,  church  wardens,  and 
vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York.  I  do  allow  it 
to  be  recorded. 

(Signed)  De  Witt  Clinton. 

Recorded  in  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  City  and  County  of  New  York  in 
Lib.  No.  1  of  Incorporations  of  Religious  Denominations,  page  73,  this 
20th  day  of  November,  1811. 

Exam'd  by  (Signed)  S.  La  whence,  Clerk. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church  was  held 
in  the  vestry-room  on  Saturday,  November  23,  1811,  at  which  both 
wardens  and  all  the  vestrymen  were  present.  Mr.  Gerrit  H.  Van 
Wagenen  presided.  The  first  business  transacted  was  to  order  the 
proceedings  of  Trinity  Church  relative  to  the  separation  of  the 
Chapel,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  incorporating  the  Church 
to  be  entered  on  the  minutes.  Mr.  Edward  W.  Laight  was  elected 
by  ballot  clerk  of  the  Vestry  and  Mr.  G.  H.  Van  Wagenen  was 
similarly  elected  treasurer.  Jacob  Leonard  was  appointed  parish 
clerk,  Peter  Erben  organist,  John  Purdy  sexton,  all  for  one  year 
and  at  the  salaries  heretofore  allowed  them  by  Trinity  Church. 
At  a  subsequent  meeting  Mr.  Purdy  was  also  appointed  collector 
of  pew  rents.  A  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Dominiek,  Onder- 
donk,  Van  Wagenen,  Peters,  and  Carow  was  appointed  to  apply 
to  and  obtain  from  Trinity  Church  the  property  stipulated  as 
an  endowment  for  St.  George's.  Messrs.  Laight,  Greene,  Onderdonk, 
Van  Wagenen,  and  Lawrence  were  appointed  a  committee  to  pre- 
pare and  report  rules  and  regulations  for  the  government  of  this 
corporation  and  to  make  an  application  to  the  Legislature  for  a 
special  charter.  The  wardens  were  requested  to  take  measures  for 
keeping  the  church  open  and  supplying  the  services.  Messrs.  Domi- 
niek, Schermerhorn,  and  Wardell  were  appointed  a  committee  on 
pews  and  repairs.  The  first  Wednesday  of  every  month  at  7  p.m. 
was  the  time  designated  for  the  regular  meeting  of  the  Vestry. 
The  clerk  was  instructed  to  provide  the  necessary  books  and  sta- 
tionery for  the  use  of  the  Corporation  and  to  prepare  a  common 
seal  for  this  Corporation.  Thus  was  the  business  of  the  newly  in- 
corporated St.  George's  Church  happily  inaugurated. 

The  seal  which  the  clerk  was  directed  to  prepare,  of  which  a 
representation  is  given  on  the  title-page  of  this  book,  was  formally 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  55 

adopted  as  the  seal  of  the  Corporation,  February  5,  1812.  The  de- 
scription accompanying  it  was :  "  A  Dove,  with  an  olive  branch  in 
its  bill,  alighting  on  the  Globe  overshadowed  with  a  Glory,  in  the 
center  of  which  is  a  triangle  and  around  the  Seal  the  words  and 
figures — viz..  Seal  of  St.  George's  Church,  New  York.  Inc.  a.d. 
1811." 

A  request  to  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  for  a  gift  of  a  service  of 
Communion  Plate  was  kindly  acceded  to,  and  the  wardens  of  St. 
George's  were  authorized  to  procure  the  same  to  be  made  at  the 
expense  of  the  parent  Church. 

The  supply  of  services  seems  to  have  occasioned  the  wardens 
much  difficulty,  and  they  urged  upon  the  vestry  the  desirability  of 
calling  a  rector  as  soon  as  possible.  A  meeting  of  the  congregation 
was  accordingly  called  for  February  7,  1812,  "  to  ascertain  the 
salary  to  be  allowed  to  the  rector  of  this  Church,  in  addition  to 
the  use  of  the  parsonage  house  expected  to  be  purchased  for  this 
Church  by  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church."  At  this  meeting 
two  resolutions  were  adopted:  "  That  the  church  wardens  and 
vestrymen  are  hereby  authorized  to  pay  out  of  the  revenues  of  the 
Church  the  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars  for  the  annual  salary  of 
a  minister,  which  appropriation  is,  however,  intended  and  hereby 
declared  to  continue  during  the  pleasure  of  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  church  wardens  and  vestrymen  for  the  time  being  and 
no  longer."  "  That  the  church  wardens  and  vestrymen  provide  a 
suitable  dwelling-house  for  the  accommodation  of  the  family  of  such 
minister  during  his  continuance  in  office." 

Meanwhile  members  of  the  congregation  had  been  busying  them- 
selves about  the  selection  of  a  rector,  and  at  a  special  meeting  of  the 
Vestry,  January  2,  1812,  a  communication  from  Samuel  Guilford, 
Jr.,  Francis  Ogsbury,  Abraham  K.  Smedes,  and  Daniel  S.  Robert- 
son was  received,  enclosing  a  recommendation  for  the  appointment 
of  the  Rev.  S.  F.  Jarvis  as  rector  signed  by  one  hundred  and  two 
members  of  the  congregation.  No  action  was  taken,  however,  and 
the  communication  was  ordered  to  lie  on  the  table  for  further  con- 
sideration. But  on  the  following  Wednesday  the  Vestry  met  again, 
and,  having  become  satisfied  that  some  who  had  signed  the  recom- 
mendation had  done  so  unadvisedly,  resolved  to  return  the  same 
to  the  gentlemen  who  had  presented  it  for  the  reason  aforesaid. 

At  this  time  the  services  were  being  conducted  by  the  Rev.  John 
Brady,  who  became  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  earliest  history  of 
the  parish,  serving  it  most  acceptably  both  as  minister-in-charge 
and  as  assistant  under  the  first  rector.    Previous  to  his  appointment, 


56  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Bowden  had  rendered  such  services,  at  the  request 
of  the  wardens,  as  were  deemed  worthy  of  a  formal  expression  of 
the  thanks  of  the  Vestry  and  an  honorarium  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  The  reverend  gentleman,  however,  declined  any  financial 
remuneration,  stating  that  he  considered  the  thanks  of  the  corpora- 
tion sufficient  compensation  for  his  services.  This  generous  behavior 
on  his  part,  however,  did  not  go  unrewarded,  for  at  a  later  period, 
when  in  consequence  of  the  great  disastrous  fire  of  1835  his  family 
had  become  reduced  to  distress  through  the  insolvency  of  certain  fire- 
insurance  companies,  the  income  from  which  had  been  their  chief 
means  of  support,  the  Vestry  delicately  conveyed  to  them  through 
their  pastor,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Berrian  of  Trinity  Church,  the  sum 
of  two  hundred  dollars  in  consideration  of  the  services  which  Doctor 
Bowden  had  once  rendered  to  St.  George's  and  in  sympathy  with 
their  recent  misfortunes. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brady's  temporary  engagement, 
a  further  engagement  was  entered  into  with  him  for  the  term  of 
one  year  from  the  1st  of  April  at  the  salary  of  sixteen  hundred 
dollars,  with  the  stipulation  that  when  a  rector  shall  be  called  to 
this  Church  he  should  be  considered  an  assistant  for  the  residue  of 
the  said  term.  He  was  also  "  authorized  to  make  such  occasional 
changes  with  the  clergy  in  the  afternoons  of  the  Sabbath  as  he 
may  from  time  to  time  deem  proper,  and  also  that  he  request  an 
interchange  with  such  of  the  clerg}^  as  any  four  members  of  this 
Board  may  in  writing  require. ' ' 

The  clerk  of  the  Vestry,  who  had  been  ordered  to  procure  two 
certified  copies  of  the  law  passed  at  the  last  session  of  the  Assembly 
of  the  State  of  New  York  relative  to  the  holding  of  property  by  this 
corporation,  reported  in  September,  1812,  that  he  had  delivered  one 
copy  to  the  senior  warden  and  one  copy  to  the  Vestry  of  Trinity 
Church. 

The  need  of  a  vestry-room  and  of  a  parsonage  house  being  keenly 
felt,  the  attention  of  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  was  called  to 
the  Articles  of  Separation  agreed  upon,  in  which  it  was  expressly 
stipulated  "  that  Trinity  Church  will  build  or  purchase  for  St. 
George's  a  parsonage  house,  and  as  soon  as  their  funds  will  permit 
they  will  likewise  erect  a  vestry-room,  enlarge  the  churchyard,  and 
enclose  the  same."  An  offer  of  lots  on  Cliff  Street  suitable  for  the 
enlargement  of  the  churchyard  was  presented  to  the  Vestry,  through 
the  senior  warden,  by  Cornelius  J.  Bogert  at  a  special  meeting. 
May  27,  1812,  and  the  property  committee  was  directed  to  consider 
the  advisability  of  the  purchase  of  these  lots  and  to  confer  with 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  57 

the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  on  the  matter.  This  action  was  duly 
communicated  to  the  Vestry  of  Trinity;  but  eight  months  having 
elapsed,  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  became  impatient  at  the  delay 
and  appointed  a  special  committee,  January  22,  1813,  to  confer  with 
a  committee  of  Trinity  Church  for  carrying  into  effect  the  covenants 
contained  in  the  Articles  of  Separation.  In  the  ensuing  April  the 
Corporation  of  Trinity  resolved  to  "  pay  or  assume  the  payment  of 
$3,125  to  C.  J.  Bogert,  being  the  consideration  for  the  lot  of  ground 
on  Cliff  Street  adjacent  to  the  churchyard,"  which  for  its  enlarge- 
ment St.  George's  Vestry  desired  and  had  contracted  to  purchase. 
The  report  of  the  treasurer  of  Trinity  Corporation  for  the  year 
ending  April,  1813,  shows  further  expenditure  for  St.  George's,  for 
the  Service  of  Plate  already  referred  to,  an  iron  railing  about  the 
property,  and  repairs  to  the  church,  amounting  to  $5,104.62. 

The  first  annual  convention  of  the  diocese,  subsequent  to  the  in- 
corporation of  St.  George's,  was  held  in  Trinity  Church  in  October, 
1812,  at  which  nineteen  clergjinen  were  present  and  twenty-six 
parishes  were  represented.  The  journal  of  the  first  day's  proceed- 
ings includes  the  following  entry: 

A  certificate  of  ineori:>oration  of  St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  was 
read  and  approved  and  the  same  received  into  union  with  this  Convention; 
whereupon  Harry  Peters,  G.  H.  Van  Wagenen,  Francis  Dominiek  and 
Edward  W.  Laight  having  presented  their  certificate  of  appointment  as 
Lay  Delegates  from  said  church,  which  was  read  and  apj^roved,  took  their 
seats  in  the  Convention. 

The  parochial  report  gave  the  following  statistics:  Families,  about 
185 ;  Baptisms,  25 ;  Communicants,  60  to  80 ;  Marriages,  9 ;  Funer- 
als, 10. 

Meanwhile,  by  deed  dated  May  13,  1812,  twenty-four  lots  of 
ground  located  on  Greenwich,  Barclay,  Murray,  Warren,  Chambers, 
and  Reade  streets,  yielding  at  the  time  a  rental  of  three  thousand 
dollars  per  annum  on  leases  of  twenty-one  years,  had  been  deeded 
to  St.  George's  for  its  endowment.  The  property  in  Beekman 
Street  on  which  the  Church  stood  was  conveyed  by  deed  dated 
August  4,  1812.  Both  these  conveyances,  however,  contained 
conditions  which  in  later  years  were  prolific  of  trouble  when  St. 
George's  decided  to  remove  to  Stuyvesant  Square,  as  will  be  de- 
tailed at  a  later  period  of  this  history. 

In  the  fall  of  1812  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brady  was  requested  by  the  Vestry 
to  open  the  Church  for  public  services  on  Wednesday  evenings  dur- 
ing the  winter  season,  and  he  was  notified  that  "  the  restrictions 


58  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

on  him  as  to  the  exchanging  with  clergymen  had  been  taken  off." 
Soon  afterward,  for  reasons  not  stated,  the  evening  service  was 
changed  by  resolution  to  Thursdays  instead  of  Wednesdays,  and 
the  collections  at  these  services  were  discontinued. 

The  Vestry  further  directed  "  that  the  chanting  be  omitted  on 
the  morning  when  the  Sacrament  is  administered  and  the  Vol- 
untary be  entirely  omitted,  and  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  be  chanted 
in  the  afternoons  as  well  as  in  the  morning." 

The  question  of  chanting  was  a  vexed  one  in  those  earlier  days. 
Its  leading  advocate  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Smith,  a  Scotch- 
man who  came  to  this  country  in  1785  and  has  been  called  the 
"  Father  of  chanting  in  the  Episcopal  Church."  He  was  a  scholar- 
ly Churchman  of  the  Connecticut  type,  a  student  of  liturgies,  and 
the  author  of  the  '*  Office  for  the  Institution  of  Ministers  into  Par- 
ishes or  Churches  "  in  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  His  views  on 
Church  music,  however,  he  had  much  difficulty  in  impressing  upon 
the  Churchmen  of  that  day,  as  is  evident  from  a  letter  addressed 
by  him  to  Bishop  Hobart  under  date  August  8,  1811,  preserved  in 
the  Hobart  MSS.,  in  justification  of  his  published  views  against  his 
critics,  some  of  whom  in  the  diocesan  convention  had  attacked  them 
on  account  of  "  unrubricalness. "     His  letter  concludes: 

I  am  truly  sick  of  defending  a  work,  which  I  am  confident  stands  in  no 
need  of  defence,  but  there  is  no  withstanding  prejudices  and  private  con- 
ceptions. From  the  Clergy  I  never  expected  such  a  degree  of  fastidious- 
ness— from  the  laity  I  had  to  look  for  eveiy  opposition  that  ignorance  & 
prejudice  could  muster  up: — But  'a  little'  (puritanic)  'leaven  leaveneth 
the  whole  lump.'  With  my  ardent  wishes,  that  health  and.  happiness  may 
attend  vou  I  am 

Rt  Rev'd  &  Dear  Sir 

Your  Reverence's  friend  &  humb  Svt 

William  Smith. 

When  the  chanting  was  introduced  into  St.  George's  Church,  it 
is  said  that  the  innovation  created  great  surprise  and  indignation 
among  the  old  people,  and  glances  were  exchanged  between  the 
occupants  of  the  pews  until  Mr.  Gerrit  Van  Wagenen,  one  of  the 
wardens,  unable  to  suppress  his  overflo^^'ing  anger,  arose  and  ex- 
claimed, ''  Away  with  your  Jew  gibberish;  we  want  no  such  non- 
sense in  the  House  of  God ;  give  us  the  psalms  and  hymns  as  of  old  ' ' 
and  walked  out  of  the  Church.  James  De  Lancey  Walton  arose, 
saying,  "I  go,  too,"  and  many  of  the  congregation  followed  his 
example.  One  excited  old  gentleman  advanced  toward  the  chancel, 
giving  vent  to  his  feelings  by  exclaiming,  "  Well,  is  God  or  the 
devil  to  be  in  command?"     But  the  prejudice  wore  off  in  time, 


ORGANIZATION    AND     KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  59 

and  the  chanting  at  first  barely  tolerated  at  length  came  to  be 
popular. 

The  James  De  Lancey  Walton  referred  to  in  the  above  incident 
was  the  then  owner  of  the  celebrated  mansion,  "  Walton  House," 
No.  324  Pearl  Street.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the  sumptuous  ap- 
pointments and  entertainments  in  Walton  House  prior  to  the  Revo- 
lution, when  the  well-known  William  Walton  of  that  period  owned 
the  mansion,  were  unscrupulously  referred  to  in  the  British  Parlia- 
ment as  fair  examples  of  the  comforts  and  even  luxury  existing  in 
the  Colonies,  and  that  the  assertion  was  made  in  Parliament  that 
in  \iew  of  all  this  as  claimed  the  Colonies  were  quite  prosperous 
enough  to  stand  a  tax. 

St.  George's  was  still  without  a  Rector  at  the  close  of  1812.  The 
Vestry  met  November  18th,  and  being  agreed  upon  the  importance 
of  securing  "  a  respectable  and  suitable  clergjanan  "  as  rector 
without  delay,  and  being  apprehensive  that  the  terms  of  the  resolu- 
tion adopted  by  the  congregation  at  its  meeting  in  February,  where- 
by the  continued  payment  of  salary  to  the  rector  should  be  de- 
pendent upon  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  church  wardens  and 
vestrymen  ''  would  prevent  the  securing  of  a  suitable  clergyman  in 
consequence  of  the  annual  uncertainty  attendant  on  his  support," 
it  was  ordered  that  a  meeting  of  the  congregation  be  called  for 
November  24,  1812,  to  consider  the  resolution  of  February  7th. 
At  this  meeting  James  De  L.  Walton  was  chosen  chairman  and 
Robert  Wardell  secretary.  The  object  of  the  meeting  having  been 
stated  and  discussed,  it  was  resolved  "  that  this  church  have  a 
rector  and  assistant  minister,"  and  the  meeting  adjourned  until 
Thursday  evening  after  the  lecture.  At  that  time  the  objection- 
able resolution  was  rescinded,  and  the  Vestry  was  requested  to  call 
the  Rev.  John  Kewley,  M.D.,  to  the  rectorship,  with  a  salary  of 
two  thousand  dollars  and  a  dwelling.  To  give  effect  to  this  action  of 
the  congregation,  the  Vestry  met,  December  2,  1812,  and  directed  the 
following  letter  to  be  sent  to  Doctor  Kewley  signed  by  the  wardens 
and  vestrymen  and  attested  by  the  corporate  seal : 

Reverend  Sir, — At  a  full  meeting  of  the  wardens  and  vestrymen  of  St. 
George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York  held  this  evening  in  said  Church 
the  following  Resolution  was  unanimously  passed,  viz.,  This  Board  ha\ang 
full  confidence  in  the  favourable  report  wliich  its  members  indiWdually 
have  had  of  the  sound  piety  and  useful  talents  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Kewley 
of  ]\Iiddletown  in  the  State  of  Connecticut,  therefore  Resolved,  that  the 
Rev.  Dr.  John  Kewley  be  requested  to  take  upon  him  the  Rectorship  of  this 
Church,  and  that  a  respectable  Dwelling  House  be  provided  for  him,  with 


60  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

a  salarj'  of  two  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  to  be  paid  to  him  in  quarterly 
payments,  and  that  a  call  be  made  out  accordingly.  In  persuance  of  this 
resolution  we  the  wardens  and  vestr^-men  of  the  said  Church  do  earnestly 
and  solicitously  request  your  accejjtance  of  the  Rectorship  thereof.  Among 
many  reasons,  which  might  be  urged  to  induce  upon  you  to  accede  to  our 
wishes,  a  very  projninent  &  enforcing  one  is  the  unanimity  which  pre- 
vails in  our  congregation  in  making  this  our  request.  Again  we  beg  your 
acceptance  of  this  charge,  and  we  most  heartily  &  humbly  invoke  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church,  that  he  will  make  the  Pathway  of  Duty  plain  before 
you,  and  leaving  the  Result  with  him  in  whose  Hands  are  the  Hearts  of  all 
men,  we  individually  hereunto  subscribe  our  names  &  affix  the  seal  of  our 
Church  and  Corporation. 

At  the  next  meeting,  December  16,  1812,  the  warden  reported 
that  a  letter  had  been  received  from  Doctor  Kewley,  which  was 
read  and  ordered  to  be  inserted  on  the  minutes.  The  contents  of 
the  letter,  however,  are  not  known,  as  only  two  lines  were  inserted 
on  the  record,  which  read:  "  Gentlemen,  yesterday  evening  I  re- 
ceived your  letter  containing  the  call  inform — "  and  here  the 
transcript  on  the  minutes  ends,  nor  is  there  mention  of  other  busi- 
ness or  of  adjournment.  The  inference  is  that  the  letter  led  to  the 
necessity  of  a  second  communication  from  the  Vestry  and  that  the 
clerk  simply  failed  to  complete  the  record  of  the  meeting.  At  the 
next  meeting,  however,  January  6,  1813,  this  second  letter  was  pre- 
sented : 

MiDDLETOWN,  CoNN.,  29th  December,  1812. 
To  the  Wardens  &  Vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church,  City  of  Xew  York. 

Gentleiiex, — I  hereby  certify  and  make  known  to  your  Board  and 
through  you  to  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  Church  my  acceptance  of 
the  office  of  Rector  to  which  I  have  been  elected  by  their  vote.  The  Honor- 
able testimonial  of  the  Election  duly  signed  and  sealed,  I  also  hereby  ac- 
knowledge to  have  received.  With  fervent  prayers  for  the  divine  blessing 
on  the  proposed  connection,  I  am  gentlemen,  yours  most  respectfully, 

J,  Kewley. 

By  this  acceptance  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Kewley  became  the  first 
Rector  of  St.  George's  Church.  No  date,  however,  appears  to  have 
been  fixed  for  his  entrance  on  his  duties,  but  on  ]\Iarcli  17th  the 
vestry  record  states  that  the  Rector  is  daily  expected  to  take  charge 
of  the  parish,  and  the  wardens  were  directed  to  make  the  necessary 
certificate  of  the  call  to  the  Assistant  Bishop  and  request  him  to 
appoint  a  convenient  time  for  the  ceremony  of  Institution.  The 
Rev.  John  Brady  had  faithfully  performed  his  duties  as  minister  of 
the  Church ;  and  as  the  term  for  which  he  had  been  called  had  nearly 
expired  his  appointment  was  continued  on  the  same  terms  as  hereto- 
fore, and  the  wardens  were  directed  to  notify  the  Assistant  Bishop 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  61 

and  request  him  to  institute  Mr.  Brady  as  assistant  minister.  As 
a  token  of  appreciation  of  his  services  the  Vestry  voted  him  the 
sum  of  four  hundred  dollars  in  addition  to  his  yearly  salary  of 
sixteen  hundred  dollars,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  had  been  doing 
alone  the  entire  work  of  the  parish.  So  the  rector  and  assistant 
minister  were  instituted  at  the  same  time  into  their  respective 
offices,  the  ceremony  taking  place  on  the  25th  of  March,  the  follow- 
ing notice  of  the  event  appearing  in  the  current  issue  of  The  Church- 
man's Magazine: 

On  Thursday  the  25th  of  March,  being  the  festival  of  the  Annunciation, 
the  Rev.  John  Kewley  was  instituted  rector  and  the  Rev.  John  Brady 
an  assistant  minister  in  St.  George's  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York  by  the 
Right  Reverend  Bishop  Hobart.  On  this  occasion  Morning  Prayer  was 
celebrated  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Jarvis,  and  a  sermon  preached  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Richard  C.  Moore. 

Evidently  the  privilege  of  transfer  of  pews  by  members  of  the 
parish  had  been  somewhat  abused,  and  the  Vestry  found  it  ex- 
pedient, June  2,  1813,  to  declare  "  that  no  transfer  of  any  right 
in  either  of  the  said  pews  can  be  considered  valid  without  the  ap- 
probation of  this  board  first  being  had,  the  right  in  fee  simple  to 
which  being  declared  to  be  vested  in  the  Rector,  wardens,  and  vestry- 
men of  this  Church. ' ' 

The  institution  of  a  third  service  on  Sundays  had  been  requested 
of  the  rector,  but  while  expressing  himself  willing  to  hold  the 
service  as  desired  he  wished  it  to  be  understood,  as  expressed  in  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  vestry,  that  "  this  is  a  voluntary  service 
which  at  his  pleasure  and  discretion  he  moj  either  suspend  or  dis- 
continue altogether  without  being  liable  to  censure  for  so  doing." 

On  Wednesday  morning,  January  5,  1814,  St.  George's  Church 
was  destroyed  by  fire.  In  the  Commercial  Advertiser  of  the  same 
date  there  appeared  the  following  account  of  the  destruction  of  the 
time-honored  building: 

Melancholy  Fire. — At  an  early  hour  this  morning,  five  dwelling  houses 
and  St.  George's  Chapel  (one  of  the  finest  Episcopal  churches  in  this  city) 
in  Beekman  Street,  and  one  dwelling  house  and  the  African  School-House 
in  Cliff  Street,  together  with  a  number  of  workshops  and  other  small 
buildings  in  the  rear,  were  destroyed  by  fire.  The  flames  continued  to  rage 
with  uncontrolled  fury  for  several  hours.  The  wind  was  liigh,  and  the 
flakes  of  fire  flew  in  various  directions  and  to  a  great  distance,  and  were 
it  not  that  the  roofs  were  covered  with  snow,  which  was  then  falling,  an 
immense  number  of  buildings  would  have  been  destroyed.  We  regret  to 
add  that  three  of  the  firemen  were  badly  injured  by  tlie  falling  of  one  of 
the  houses  in  Beekman  Street.    Mr.  Burger  of  Engine  No.  9  is  said  to  be 


62  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

dangerously  wounded,  Mr,  George  Gossman  of  the  same  engine  and  a  per- 
son belonging  to  No.  13  although  badly  wounded  are  not  considered  in 
danger.  Very  providentially  the  steeple  of  the  Church  fell  within  the 
building.  Had  it  fallen  into  the  street,  most  probably  many  lives  would 
have  been  lost.  The  fire  made  its  first  appearance  about  one  o'clock  in  a 
shop.  The  Church  took  fire  about  two,  and  had  been  burning  for  about 
one  &  one-fourth  hours  when  the  steeple  fell.  The  loss  of  the  Church  is 
about  $100,000,  $30,000  of  which  was  insured.  It  was  supposed  that  the 
fire  originated  by  design. 

Another  contemporary  and  somewhat  rhetorical  description  of 
the  burning  of  St.  George's  is  given  in  Stanford's  Concise  Descrip- 
tion of  New  York,  1814 : 

This  splendid  edifice,  which  was  very  little  inferior  to  St.  Paul's  in  the 
gi'andeur  and  beauty  of  its  architecture,  was  most  unfortunately  destroyed 
by  fire  on  the  night  of  the  fifth  of  January  last.  The  fire  oi'iginated  in  a 
stable  about  fifty  j'ards  from  the  north  end  of  the  church,  and  from  the 
number  of  buildings  of  wood  with  which  it  was  surrounded,  among  which 
the  fire  immediately  extended,  every  exertion  to  preserve  it  proved  inef- 
fectual. The  night  was  dark  and  tempestuous,  and  the  solemn  stillness 
which  but  a  moment  before  reigned  throughout  the  city  was  exchanged 
for  a  scene  of  greater  dread  and  confusion  than  had  been  witnessed  for 
many  years.  The  burning  of  the  church  presented  one  of  the  most  awful 
spectacles  that  the  imagination  can  picture.  The  immense  columns  of  flame 
curling  ai'ound  its  tall  steeple  and  ascending  to  the  very  clouds,  and  the 
general  conflagration  which  was  visible  in  every  direction,  was  calculated 
to  inspire  the  mind  with  the  highest  feelings  of  reverence  and  sublimity. 

In  The  Story  of  the  Volunteer  Fire  Department  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  by  George  "W.  Sheldon,  Harper  &  Brothers,  1882,  we 
read: 

Mr.  John  W.  Degrauw,  that  veteran  fireman,  remembers  well  how  the 
women  turned  out  with  buckets  at  the  burning  of  St.  George's  Church  in 
Beekman  Street  seventy-odd  j^ears  ago,  and  helped  fill  the  engines,  and 
how  the  old  chui'ch  clock,  when  the  building  was  enveloped  in  fiames.  struck 
three  times,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  just  before  the  steejile  fell. 
'  I  thought,'  he  says,  *  that  it  was  a  wonder.f  ul  sight.' 

On  the  day  of  the  fire  the  Vestry  met  at  the  Rector's  house 
to  make  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  Divine  Service  with- 
out interruption.  The  French  Church  du  St.  Esprit,  located  on 
Pine  Street  near  Nassau,  was  considered  the  most  suitable  and 
convenient  for  the  temporary  accommodation  of  the  congregation, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  make  application  to  the  Vestry 
of  that  Church  for  the  use  of  the  same,  if  possible  on  the  following 
Sunday.    The  corporation  of  that  Church,  which  had  within  a  year 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  63 

experienced  the  generous  kindness  of  St.  George's  Vestry  in  de- 
fraying the  expense  of  a  new  fence  around  their  property,  readily 
consented  to  the  occupation  of  their  edifice  and  pews  were  allotted 
therein  to  the  pew-holders  of  St.  George's  by  the  pew  committee 
of  that  Church.  Two  new  surplices  were  ordered,  and  the  treasurer 
was  instructed  to  cause  ''  to  be  made  a  strong  and  convenient  chest 
to  contain  the  communion  plate,"  which,  happily,  had  escaped  the 
fire. 

A  special  committee  was  appointed  to  represent  to  the  Vestry  of 
Trinity  "  the  calamitous  state  of  this  Church  and  congregation  and 
to  urge  their  immediate  attention  to  our  present  exigencies  "  and 
also  to  request  a  conference  with  them  by  a  committee  on  this  sub- 
ject. It  will  be  recalled  that  in  one  of  the  questions  propounded  by 
St.  George's  at  the  time  of  the  separation,  the  contingency  of  the 
destruction  of  their  edifice  by  fire  was  specially  mentioned  as  one 
which  should  entitle  "  the  eldest  child  of  the  family  to  every  need- 
ful assistance  ' '  of  the  mother  church ;  which  question  was  met  with 
the  general  assurance  that  Trinity  Church  "  will  always  be  dis- 
posed, according  to  their  abilities,  to  assist  St.  George's  in  her 
necessities."  It  was,  therefore,  with  full  confidence  in  the  generous 
disposition  of  the  Trinity  Vestry  that,  the  dreaded  eventuality  hav- 
ing come  to  pass,  present  application  for  aid  was  made.  The  com- 
mittee reported  on  the  25th  of  January  that  they  had  met  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  and  that  after  conference 
that  committee  had  declared  that  "  they  would  propose  to  their 
Vestry  to  consider  St.  George's  congregation  in  the  same  light  as 
if  they  were  still  a  part  of  the  corporation  of  Trinity  Church,  and 
that  in  their  opinion  their  Vestry  would  rebuild  St.  George 's  Church 
as  it  formerly  was,  except  the  steeple,  provided  that  they  should 
have  the  right  of  selling  the  pews  in  said  Church,  with  the  exception 
of  some  to  be  reserved  for  the  poor  of  the  congregation." 

This  proviso  permitting  Trinity  Church  to  sell  practically  all  the 
pews  in  the  church  to  be  rebuilt  did  not  meet  with  favor  in  St. 
George's  and  conferences  and  correspondence  were  had  between  the 
two  committees.  The  first  modification  of  their  proposal  to  which 
the  committee  of  Trinity  consented  was  to  except  "  the  pews  on 
one  side  of  the  gallery  and  a  few  on  the  ground  floor  remote  from 
the  pulpit  "  from  the  general  sale  toward  the  "reimbursement  of 
Trinity  Church  for  the  expense  of  rebuilding.  The  St.  George's 
contention,  however,  was  that  in  view  of  the  fact  that  one  hundred 
and  nineteen  of  its  families  out  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  were 
financially  unable  to  purchase  pews  and  could  only  pay  a  small 


64  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

annual  rent,  "  the  reasonableness  and  necessity  of  having  at  its 
disposal  one  of  the  galleries  and  half  the  ground  floor,  that  is  an 
equal  half  of  the  whole  number  of  pews,  should  be  admitted."  The 
final  concession  of  the  Trinity  Vestry  was  that  all  the  pews  in  the 
gallery  and  the  twelve  single  pews  nearest  the  doors  on  the  ground 
floor  should  be  left  at  the  disposal  of  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's. 
These  terms  were  accepted  and  Trinity  Church  was  authorized  to 
sell  all  the  pews  on  the  ground  floor,  excepting  the  twelve  nearest 
the  doors,  at  public  auction  subject  to  a  reasonable  rent,  which 
rent  was  to  be  collected  and  taken  for  its  own  use  by  the  Corpora- 
tion of  St.  George's,  and  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  pews  should 
be  taken  and  applied  by  Trinity  Church  toward  reimbursement  of 
the  expense  of  rebuilding. 

The  Vestry  of  Trinity  at  once  took  order  for  prosecuting  the 
work.  Jacob  Sherred,  a  member  of  their  vestry,  was  appointed 
architect  and  proposals  from  contractors  were  invited. 

In  response  to  St.  George's  application  to  Trinity  for  increased 
endowment  eight  additional  lots  of  ground  were  generously  granted 
for  that  purpose  by  deed  dated  April  1,  1814,  and  the  following 
extract  from  the  minutes  of  June  27th  of  the  same  year  is  further 
evidence  of  her  liberal  and  helpful  spirit : 

The  committee  heretofore  appointed  by  the  Board  on  the  application  of 
St.  George's  Church,  relative  to  the  further  execution  of  the  ari'angement 
under  which  they  were  separated  from  this  Corporation,  reported  that  the 
estate  of  Thomas  Burling  adjacent  to  the  churchyard  of  St.  George's,  can 
now  be  purchased  for  $14,000;  therefore  ordered  that  the  said  committee 
be  authorized  to  purchase  the  said  estate  for  the  use  of  St.  George's  Church 
and  that  the  treasurer  make  the  necessaiy  advances  for  the  same.  Resolved 
further,  that  they  take  measures  for  enclosing  the  most  westerly  of  the 
two  houses  on  the  lot  above  refeiTed  to,  to  be  hereafter  completed  as  a 
dwelling  house  for  the  rector  of  St.  George's  pursuant  to  the  Articles  of 
Separation. 

The  relative  rights  and  prerogatives  of  the  Rector  and  his  as- 
sistants had  been  in  Trinity  Parish  at  times  a  cause  of  irritation 
and  controversy,  and  now  unpleasantness  appeared  between  the  first 
Rector  of  St.  George's  and  his  assistant.  The  following  letter  is  the 
latter 's  answer  to  a  communication  from  the  former  and  fully  states 
his  case : 
Rev.  Sir, 

The  communication  which  I  lately  received  from  you  is  a  desideratum 
which  I  have  for  some  time  past  intended  to  solicit;  inasmuch  as  circum- 
stances seemed  to  require  something  formal  &  specific  on  the  subject  therein 
discussed. 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  65 

In  respect  of  the  prerogatives  of  a  Rector,  as  you  have  set  them  forth,  I 
have  only  to  obser\'e,  that  they  are  as  supreme  as  they  could  well  be  stated. 

Without  entering  into  any  discussion  respecting  these  Rectorial  rights, 
&  upon  the  supposition  that  they  are  precisely  as  you  have  stated  them,  I 
think  I  may  venture  to  remind  you,  Sir,  of  the  following  particulars  which 
seem  to  direct  the  manner  of  the  application  of  these  rights :  In  the  first 
place,  I  presume  I  may  say,  that  it  is  the  general  expectation  of  all  con- 
cerned, that  the  public  scr'dces  of  our  Church  should  be  di\'ided  in  the 
alternate  mode  between  the  Rector  &  Assistant;  with  those  exceptions 
which  mutual  convenience  may  suggest ; — In  the  second  place,  it  was  most 
undoubtedly  my  firm  expectation,  when  I  was  emjjloying  my  most  strenuous 
efforts  to  obtain  a  Rector  over  the  Church  &.  me,  that  I  should,  at  least  in 
the  public  sei'V'ices  of  the  Church,  share  the  benefit  of  a  division  of  labour. 
In  respect  of  private  duties,  I  made  an  offer  of  sustaining  the  whole  burden, 
as  far  as  you  might  desire;  &  including  m  them  all  the  occasional  services 
of  the  week. 

In  the  third  place:  It  is  the  custom  of  the  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  who 
perhaps  is  invested  with  more  power  by  the  charter  of  that  Church  than 
Rectors  in  general,  to  assign  an  equal  division  of  publick  duty  to  himself 
&  Assistants  in  the  alternate  mode.  This,  it  would  seem,  has,  in  a  degree, 
established  a  precedent  in  this  citj',  on  the  relative  privileges  of  Rector  & 
Assistants. 

If,  Sir,  from  these  particulars,  you  with  me  form  the  conclusion,  that 
I  am  authorised  to  expect  &  request  that  I  be  placed  on  the  same  ground 
with  the  Assistant  Ministers  of  Trinity  Church,  I  have  reason  to  hope,  that 
the  application  of  your  Rectorial  prerogatives  to  my  situation  will  prevent 
uneasiness  and  complaint.  The  thing  is  still  to  be  tested.  After  a  due 
time  has  been  allowed  to  judge  of  the  justice  of  your  arrangements  from 
the  natui'e  of  the  arrangements  themselves,  I  shall  then  know  on  what  I 
have  to  depend. 

On  the  next  paragxaph  of  your  commmiication.  Sir,  I  can  make  no  re- 
marks, as  I  do  not  exactly  comprehend  its  meaning. 

On  the  succeeding  paragraph,  I  regxet  that  I  am  obliged  to  state,  I  must 
differ  from  you  in  opinion.  If  the  Parishioners  of  St.  George's  Church 
can  recognise  me  as  possessed  of  Parochial  powers  by  Ecclesiastical  au- 
thority, they  can  request  me  to  exercise  them  on  their  behalf;  and  of 
course  can  extend  to  me  for  the  same  what  perquisites  they  please.  In 
proof  that  I  am  possessed  of  Parochial  power,  permit  me  to  refer  you  to 
the  following  parts  of  the  office  of  Institution — the  Senior  "Warden  presents 
the  keys  of  the  Church  to  the  new  Incumbent,  saymg — In  the  name  and 
behalf  of  St.  George's  Church,  I  do  receive  &  acknowledge  you,  the  Rev. 
J.  B.  as  Priest,  and  Assistant  Minister  of  the  same;  and  in  token  thereof 
give  into  your  hands  the  keys  of  this  church. — Then  the  new  Incumbent 
shall  say.  I.  J.  B.  receive  these  keys  of  the  House  of  God  at  your  hands, 
as  the  pledges  of  my  institution,  and  of  your  Parochial  recognition,  and 
promise  to  be  a  faithful  Shepherd  over  you  ua  the  name  of  the  Fathei',  the 
Son  &  the  Holy  Ghost.  On  this  ground,  therefore,  I  must  decline,  Sir, 
accepting  the  permission  you  were  pleased,  to  give  me,  of  saying  to  our 
Parisliioners,  that  it  is  your  wish  I  should  perform  those  services  for  which 
perquisites  are  expected.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  perfoi-m  any  of  those 
ser\'ices  for  vou,  when  your  ease  &  convenience  require  it,  upon  your  re- 
5 


66  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

quest.     The  will  of  the  people  in  this  city  has  always  been  the  criterion  on 
this  point. 

With  prayer  to  God  thro'  Jesus  Chi-ist,  that  I  may  have  grace  to  act 
in  this  matter  according  to  godliness, 

I  subscribe  myself, 

Your  brother  in  Christ 

John  Brady. 
June  27,  1814 
Monday  Morning 

The  Rector  thereupon  appealed  to  the  Bishop  for  his  judgment 
in  the  matter  in  the  two  following  letters,  wiiich  are  preserved  in 
manuscript,  as  are  others  which  appear  in  this  History,  in  the  in- 
valuable and  voluminous  collection  of  letters  addressed  to  Bishop 
Hobart  and  other  documents  known  as  the  Hobart  Manuscripts, 
which  are  in  the  otficial  custody  of  the  Registrar  of  the  General 
Convention  in  the  Church  Missions  House  in  this  city: 

New  York,  26  July,  1814. 
Right  Revd.  Sir, 

Certain  circumstances  not  necessary  to  be  mentioned,  and  certain  opinions 
advocated  by  the  Assistant  Minister  of  St.  George's,  aifecting,  in  my  judg- 
ment, the  rights  of  Rectors  of  Churches,  render  it  desirable  to  me  to  have, 
in  writing,  your  answer  to  the  following  questions : 

Is  an  Assistant  Minister,  chosen  and  instituted  by  the  Parish  to  be  con- 
sidered as  Assistant  to  the  Rector,  or  to  the  Parish? 

Hath  such  an  Assistant  Minister  any  separate,  distinct  or  independent 
Parochial  rights  of  Office  or  .lurisdiction  from  those  of  the  Rector? 

Hath  such  an  Assistant  Minister  a  right  to  perform  Parochial  acts,  except 
in  subordination  to  and  in  conformity  with  the  directions  of  the  Rector, 
either  expressed  or  implied? 

Are  the  celebrations  of  Baptisms,  Marriages,  and  Funerals  of  the  mem- 
bers of  a  Parish  to  be  considered  as  Parochial  Acts? 

An  answer  to  the  foregoing  Questions,  as  soon  as  convenient,  will  greatly 
oblige 

Right  Revd.  Sir 

Yours  affectionately 

John  Kewlet. 

New  York,  2  August,  1814. 
Right  Revd.  Sir, 

The  circumstances  which  induced  me  to  request  your  answer  to  certain 
questions,  may  be  easily  known  from  a  perusal  of  the  enclosed  letters. 
But  I  may  further  add,  that  a  sentiment  has  been  expressed  to  me  more 
than  once  that  all  Ecclesiastical  authority  emanates  from  the  People.  It  is 
now,  as  I  think,  high  time  that  my  Assistant  should  be  sensible  that  two 
heads  cannot  be  admitted  in  the  same  Church. 

It  is  not,  nor  hath  it  ever  been  my  wish,  to  curtail,  but,  on  the  contrary 
it  hath  been  my  wish  to  increase,  the  emoluments  of  the  Assistant  Min- 
ister.    But  at   the   same   time   I   confess  it   is   mortifying,   and   degrading 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  67 

to  the  office  I  hold,  to  find  not  only  that  attention  which  ought  to  be  paid 
to  the  Rector  transfen-ed  to  the  Assistant  Minister,  but  also  to  be  told 
by  that  Assistant  that  such  is  the  popular  will. 

It  is  my  wish  that  the  Assistant  Minister  in  St.  George's  Church  should 
perform  all  those  offices  for  which  occasional  i3eeuniary  advantages  are 
derived — but  at  the  same  time,  I  think,  modesty  requires  him  to  consider 
this  more  as  a  favour  than  a  right  of  oflice.  I  think  he  should  esteem 
the  consideration  of  the  people  in  this  particular  as  proceeding  more  from 
a  desire  of  making  Ms  situation  in  life  comfortable,  than  from  a  desig-n  of 
raising  him  in  popular  opinion  and  regard  over  one  whom  they  freely 
solicited  and  chose  to  become  their  Rector.  Did  the  Young  Man  manifest 
that  such  were  his  sentiments  there  would  be  no  uneasiness  on  this  account. 

It  is  true,  I  expect  soon  to  be  absent  from  the  Parish  and,  whether  I 
shall  ever  return,  is  altogether  uncertain — but,  I  wish  both  the  Parish  and 
Assistant  to  know  the  respective  relation  in  wliich  their  Rector  and  his 
Assistant  stand  towai'd  the  Parishioners,  and  the  Parishioners  toward  them, 
and  they  to  each  other,  in  order  that  hereafter  no  difficulties  may  be  ex- 
perienced on  this  score.  This  is  now  become  neeessaiy,  for  should  I  return 
to  take  charge  of  the  Parish  or  should  I  not  go  to  England  as  soon  as  I 
expect  to  do,  I  could  not  submit  to  retain  the  Rectory  of  St.  George's,  on 
the  footing  I  now  seem  to  hold  it — the  Parish  would  very  soon  have  to 
decide  cither  to  part  with  their  Rector  or  the  Assistant  Minister. 

With  again  requesting  your  answer  to  the  questions  contained  in  my 
former  letter,  as  soon  as  j'our  convenience  may  admit,  and  that  the  enclosed 
letters  be  returned  j  remain 

Right  Rev'd  Sir 

Yours  affectionately 

J.  Kewlet. 

At  the  same  time  that  Doctor  Kewley  was  thus  appealing  to  the 
Bishop  he  expressed  to  the  Vestry,  under  date  of  July  29,  1814, 
his  desire  to  visit  his  native  country  and  proposed  a  series  of  minute 
arrangements  as  to  the  functions  of  the  assistant  minister  during 
his  absence,  the  services  to  be  maintained,  the  custody  of  the  com- 
munion plate,  the  distribution  of  the  alms,  etc.  The  Vestry  ac- 
ceded to  his  request  for  leave  of  absence  for  one  year,  his  full  salary 
to  be  continued  until  one  mouth  after  his  departure  from  New  York 
and  thereafter  one-half  thereof  to  be  allowed.  The  Rector  on  his 
part  invested  the  Senior  Warden  with  all  his  power  and  authority, 
except  in  matters  ecclesiastical,  and  agreed  to  ratify  and  confirm 
whatever  might  be  done  by  the  Vestry  in  his  absence  "  not  con- 
travening or  altering  the  resolutions  heretofore  entered  and  agreed 
to  in  reference  to  the  intended  visit  of  the  Rector  to  Europe."  The 
Rector  further  intimated  that  possibly  circumstances  might  occur 
after  his  arrival  in  England  which  would  induce  him  to  remain 
there  permanently  and  to  resign  his  present  connection  with  St. 
George's,  "  of  which  he  would  be  enabled  to  transmit  to  the  Vestrv 


68  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

intelligence  within  six  months  after  his  departure  from  this  country, 
unless  his  passage  to  Europe  should  be  unusually  protracted  or 
unless  the  state  of  war  should  prevent  the  arrival  of  that  intel- 
ligence. ' ' 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with  the  assistant  minister 
relative  to  the  services  of  the  Church  during  the  absence  of  the 
Rector,  which  committee  reported,  September  21,  1814,  "  that  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Brady  was  willing  to  take  upon  himself  all  the  services  on 
Sundays,  but  not  the  Thursday  evening  lecture,  for  such  additional 
compensation  as  the  Vestry  might  deem  reasonable."  This  arrange- 
ment being  acceptable  to  the  Vestry,  they  fixed  his  compensation 
at  the  rate  of  four  hundred  dollars  per  annum  in  addition  to  his 
present  salary  as  assistant  minister.  All  necessary  arrangements 
having  now  been  made,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Kewley  sailed  on  the  ship 
Fingal,  Captain  Stanton,  October  24th,  for  Havre  de  Grace. 

The  assistant  minister  was  at  this  time  visited  with  severe  do- 
mestic affliction,  for  an  entry  appears  in  the  records,  January  23, 
1815,  providing  "  that  the  funeral  of  the  deceased  consort  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Brady  be  conducted  and  the  expenses  attendant  on  the 
same  be  defrayed  by  the  funds  of  this  Church." 

The  Vestry  was  now  anxiously  looking  forward  to  a  speedy  com- 
pletion of  the  church  and  rector's  house  and  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  confer  with  Mr.  Sherred  the  architect  with  reference  to 
expediting  the  same.  Another  committee  was  appointed  "  to  con- 
fer with  the  committee  of  Trinity  Church  relative  to  the  building 
a  vault  under  the  chancel  in  St.  George's  Church  and  also  to  the 
obtaining  a  bell,  organ,  clock,  and  lustres  for  the  church." 

The  Vestry  in  September  requested  the  assistant  minister  to  call 
upon  Bishop  Hobart  and  inform  him  that  the  church  was  nearly 
ready  for  occupancy  and  request  him  to  appoint  a  day  for  con- 
secration. In  his  address  to  the  Diocesan  Convention  in  October 
the  Bishop  stated  that  St.  George's  had  been  rebuilt  and  was  ready 
for  consecration.  The  first  meeting  of  the  Vestry  in  the  new  edifice 
was  held  October  31,  1815,  the  Rector  arrived  from  Europe  No- 
vember 1st,  and  the  service  of  consecration  was  conducted  by  Bishop 
Hobart  on  the  7th  of  the  same  month. 

The  pews  in  the  new  church  were  sold  at  public  auction,  ac- 
cording to  the  agreement  between  the  Vestries  hereinbefore  set 
forth;  those  upon  the  ground  floor,  with  the  exception  of  twelve 
nearest  the  door  being  disposed  of  November  1st,  to  reimburse  in 
part  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  for  the  cost  of  rebuilding 
St.  George's,  under  the  direction  of  a  committee  consisting  of  the 


ST.  George's  church  and  rectory,  beekman  street,   i8i; 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  69 

comptroller  and  treasurer  of  Trinity  Corporation,  together  with 
Messrs.  Sherred,  Jay,  and  Ogden,  which  committee  was  invested 
with  "  power  to  decide  in  behalf  of  this  Vestry  upon  all  incidental 
questions  which  may  arise  in  relation  thereto."  The  sale  netted 
$23,129.  The  remainder  of  the  pews,  except  such  as  were  declared 
free  or  were  reserved  for  the  black  people,  were  offered  for  sale 
as  advertised  in  the  current  issue  of  the  Neiv  York  Gazette  and 
General  Advertiser,  November  7,  1815 : 

PEWS  IN  ST.  George's  church 

For  sale  on  Monday  next  in  said  Church,  by  R.  Bartow,  12  Pews  on 
the  Ground  Floor,  and  all  the  Pews  in  the  galleries  except  those  adjoining 
the  side  walls  and  the  six  most  easterly  Pews.  The  sale  for  the  eight  front 
Pews  over  the  side  aisles  will  be  public,  and  open  for  all  bidders;  but  the 
sale  for  all  other  pews  will  be  confined  to  such  persons  as  are  communicants 
of  St.  George's  Church,  or  who  at  the  time  of  the  conflagration  of  the 
Church  hired  a  pew  or  seat  therein,  and  who  now  do  not  hold  any  pew  in 
same.  All  pews  except  the  above  mentioned  eight  front  pews,  will  be 
sold  for  the  term  of  three  years  and  the  whole  will  be  subject  to  the  pay- 
ment of  an  annual  rent.  The  conditions  will  be  made  known  at  the  time  and 
place  of  sale. 

By  Order  of  the  Committee. 

All  pews  were  sold  subject  to  an  annual  rental  ranging  from 
twenty-five  dollars  for  the  two  highest  and  twenty  dollars  for  the 
next  twenty-eight  down  to  five  dollars  each.  The  proceeds  of  the 
sale  for  account  of  St.  George's  amounted  to  $2,184.81. 

The  cost  of  rebuilding  the  church,  which  had  been  begun  in  the 
spring  of  1814  and  completed  in  October,  1815,  and  of  the  Rector's 
house  was  $84,075,  of  which  $30,000  was  provided  by  the  insurance, 
$23,129  by  the  sale  of  pews,  and  $30,946  was  paid  by  the  Corpora- 
tion of  the  Mother  Church. 

A  description  of  the  rebuilt  church  is  given  in  Onderdonk's  His- 
torical Pamplilets,  published  in  1845,  which,  however,  includes  some 
items  as  the  bell,  clock,  organ,  chandeliers,  and  the  smaller  gal- 
leries which  were  installed  at  later  dates  after  completion  of  the 
building : 

It  is  a  plain  and  unpretending  stone  structure,  with  five  long  windows  on 
each  side,  over  which  are  the  cornices  of  the  eaves.  The  roof  is  steep 
pitched,  and  has  a  plain  white  balustrade  nmning  along  the  gaitter.  In 
front,  the  tower  projects  slightly  in  advance  of  the  main  building,  but  the 
gi-eater  portion  of  it  lies  withm  the  Church.  The  extreme  length  of  St. 
George's  is  101  feet  6  inches,  and  its  width  is  72  feet  6  inches,  covering 
a  space  of  7,275  square  feet.  The  toAver  contains  a  fine  bell  and  a  clock. 
The  bell  was  presented  by  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Smith,  long  known  as  one  of  our 
wealthiest  and  most  liberal  citizens. 

The  interior  of  the  Church  presents  a  much  more  beautiful  appearance 


70  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

than  the  exterior,  being  handsomely  finished  with  lofty  columns,  having 
carved  capitals  of  the  Corinthian  order.  The  ground  floor  is  divided  into 
three  aisles,  and  on  each  side  of  the  Church,  supi^orted  by  columns,  is  a 
commodious  gallery.  At  the  west  end,  connecting  the  main  galleries,  is 
another,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  the  choir,  containing  a  handsome  organ 
set  in  a  mahogany  case  and  surmounted  by  a  lyre.  Immediately  above 
this  gallery  are  two  smaller  ones,  intended  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
Sunday  scholars. 

The  ceiling  is  painted  light  stone,  in  representation  of  panel-work.  From 
the  centre  depend  tliree  large  and  splendid  glass  chandeliers. 

These  chandeliers  nov^  hang  in  St.  Paul's  Clmreh,  Oxford,  New 
York,  having  been  given  to  that  church  in  1868  (when  old  St. 
George's  was  dismantled)  at  the  request  of  the  daughters  of  Gerrit 
H.  Van  Wagenen,  the  first  warden  and  treasurer  of  the  parish. 

The  new  church  had  now  been  consecrated  and  worship  re- 
sumed therein,  but  the  mention  of  some  details  arranged  for  by 
the  Vestry  may  not  be  without  interest.  The  font  was  ordered  to 
"  be  removed  and  placed  in  front  of  the  reading-desk  where  the 
clerk  now  sits,"  and  "  a  suitable  pillar  to  sustain  the  same  "  was 
directed  to  be  made.  "  Branches  for  candles  "  were  ordered  and 
*'  a  sufficient  number  of  fire  buckets  and  fixtures  for  lights  in  the 
belfry  in  case  of  fire."  Cushions  and  carpets  for  the  rector's  pew 
were  ordered  and  "  a  carpet  to  be  placed  on  Communion  Sundays 
in  front  of  the  Altar."  The  sexton  received  orders  to  have  the 
church  ' '  swept  out  at  least  once  a  week  and  to  cause  all  the  mould- 
ings of  the  galleries  and  those  in  the  pew  doors  and  inside  the 
pews  to  be  also  carefully  dusted  and  brushed  with  a  dry  dust-brush 
at  least  once  a  week."  It  was  made  the  duty  of  the  sexton  "  to 
have  Lanthorns  placed  in  the  steeple  and  candles  put  in  them,  in 
readiness  to  be  lighted  in  case  of  fire,  one  for  each  story,"  and, 
further,  "  in  case  of  an  alarm  of  fire,  to  repair  immediately  to  the 
church  with  the  keys,  and  if  it  should  appear  that  the  church  is 
in  danger  to  light  the  candles  in  the  belfry  and  procure  such  as- 
sistance for  conveying  water  on  the  roof  as  may  be  necessary." 
Special  plates  for  the  collections  taken  at  the  evening  services  to 
be  made  of  pewter  were  ordered.  A  committee  was  charged  to  pro- 
cure two  additional  stoves  for  the  church,  "  and  if  Trinity  Church 
would  not  pay  for  the  same  "  to  have  them  paid  for  out  of  the 
funds  of  the  Corporation.  In  order  to  assure  quiet  during  Divine 
Service,  the  sexton  was  ordered  "  to  procure  a  chain  to  put  across 
the  street  opposite  the  church,  with  a  lock  to  fasten  the  same." 

The  thanks  of  the  Corporation  were  communicated  November 
11th  to  the  Vestry  of  the  St.  Esprit  Church  for  their  generosity 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  71 

to  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  "  at  a  period  of  great  calamity 
when  fire  had  destroyed  their  ancient  place  of  worship,"  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  "  to  cause  the  Church  of  St.  Esprit  to 
be  put  in  the  same  state  in  which  it  was  on  the  second  Sunday  of 
January  a.d.  1814,  on  which  day  it  was  made  use  of  as  a  place  of 
worship  by  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  Church." 

A  committee  was  authorized,  January  11,  1816,  to  purchase  the 
two  lots  on  Cliff  Street,  formerly  belonging  to  the  African  Free 
School  (which  purchase,  however,  was  not  effected)  and  also  the 
one-third  of  the  lot,  of  which  the  Church  then  owned  two-thirds,  on 
Cliff  Street,  which  was  bought  the  previous  year  for  the  purpose 
of  enlarging  the  churchyard.  Early  in  1816  a  request  had  been  re- 
ceived from  Lewis  Hartman  to  place  the  organ  belonging  to  Zion 
Church  in  St.  George's,  to  which  request  the  Vestry  agreed.  In 
the  following  year  this  organ  was  offered  for  sale,  but  the  Vestry 
declined  to  purchase  and  returned  its  thanks  for  the  use  of  the 
organ. 

The  subject  of  vaults  in  the  churchyard  was  at  various  times  con- 
sidered by  the  Vestry  and  the  best  method  of  appropriating  the  un- 
occupied area.  The  price  per  front  foot  for  land  on  which  to  build 
vaults  was  fixed  at  six  dollars,  with  the  usual  allowance  of  depth. 
The  sexton  was  forbidden  to  permit  any  vault  in  the  churchyard 
to  be  opened  except  by  order  of  the  parties  recognized  by  the  Rector 
or  wardens  as  proprietors  of  the  vault  so  directed  to  be  opened. 
There  is  a  record  on  the  minutes  under  date  December  3,  1818,  that 
deeds  for  vaults  had  been  issued  to  the  following  persons,  the  same 
being  on  the  northerly  side  of  the  churchyard.  The  names  may  be 
of  interest:  Thomas  H.  Smith,  Oliver  H.  Hicks,  David  Dunham, 
Burtus  and  Bloodgood,  Isaac  Carow,  Thomas  Lawrance,  George 
Tredwell  and  Joseph  Kissam,  Robert  and  W.  A.  Bartow,  Peter 
Griffin. 

There  now  occurred  events  which  seriously  affected  the  harmony 
of  the  parish.  The  assistant  minister,  who  for  a  number  of  years 
had  wrought  so  faithfully  and  acceptably,  dissolved  his  connection 
with  the  Church;  no  less  than  five  members  of  the  Vestry  gave 
place  to  others,  and  the  episode  ended  with  the  resignation  of  the 
Rector. 

On  February  1st  the  Rev.  John  Brady  addressed  to  the  Vestry 
the  following  communication : 
Gentlemen 

In  the  fear  that  my  usefulness  in  the  congregation  of  St.  George's 
Churcb  is  considerably  injured,  I  wish  to  inform  you  that  I  am  ready, 


72  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

when  it  may  appear  to  you  expedient,  to  agree  in  a  dissolution  of  my  con- 
nection with  them  as  Assistant  Minister.  ...  It  is  not  my  wish  that  you 
decide  on  tlais  subject  immediately,  unless  j^ou  conclude  that  such  a  decision 
is  necessary  for  the  interests  of  the  Church;  for  allow  me  to  say,  that  a 
charge  of  precipitancy  in  this  matter,  either  in  respect  of  yourselves  or  me, 
should  be  prevented.     With  sentiments  of  Respect  &  Esteem 

I  am  yours  &c  John  Brady. 

A  communication  was  also  received  from  the  Bishop  of  New  York 
as  follows : 

Gentlemen: — I  deem  it  necessary  to  state  to  you,  that  the  Rev.  John 
Brad}',  the  Assistant  Minister  of  St.  George's  Church,  has  confessed  to  me 
that  he  has  been  guilty  of  certain  indiscretions  &  improi^rieties  for  which 
I  considered  it  my  duty  to  admonish  him  and  to  require  from  him,  a  humble 
acknowledgement  which  he  has  accordingly  made. 

In  justice  to  him  I  also  deem  it  my  duty  to  state,  that  all  the  circum- 
stances of  his  case,  as  we  believe,  having  come  to  the  knowledge  of  your 
Rector  &  myself,  there  does  appear  evidence  of  those  indiscretions  & 
improprieties  which  he  has  acknowledged,  but  not  of  those  criminal  acts 
which  public  rumour  ascribes  to  him. 

I  deem  it  my  further  duty  explicitly  to  state  that  I  do  not  design  by  this 
communication  to  prevent  any  measures  on  your  part  or  on  the  part  of 
others  which  may  prevent  a  canonical  investigation  which  I  now  express 
and  have  uniformly  expressed  my  readiness  to  institute,  when  the  present- 
ment which  the  Canons  in  such  case  recjuire,  shall  be  made  to  me. 
I  am  Gent'n 

Your  veiy  obe't  friend  &  servant 

John  Henry  Hobart. 

Feb.  1, 1816. 
To  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church,  New  York. 

After  these  two  communications  had  been  read  and  the  un- 
fortunate affair  had  received  much  consideration,  they  were  re- 
ferred to  a  committee,  who,  at  a  subsequent  meeting,  February  .5th, 
reported  "  that  they  had  seriously  deliberated  and  given  the  sub- 
ject of  expediency  all  the  consideration  that  the  shortness  of  the 
time  allowed  them  would  permit  of,  and  that  from  all  the  informa- 
tion they  had  been  enabled  to  obtain  are  of  the  opinion  that  how- 
ever the  conduct  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brady  may  have  abridged  his  use- 
fulness as  a  minister  of  this  Church  and  thereby  rendered  the  said 
dissolution  advisable  or  desirable,  yet  from  a  regard  for  the  future 
welfare  and  usefulness  of  the  accused  and  from  Christian  principles 
of  forbearance,  and  in  order  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  precipitancy, 
they  recommend  that  the  final  decision  on  the  expediency  of  the  said 
dissolution  be  deferred  until  the  next  regular  meeting  of  the  Vestry," 

Mr.  Brady  was  evidently  anxious  to  have  the  dissolution  of  his 
connection  with  the  parish  brought  about  at  an  early  date,  for  he 
requested  the  Rector  to  call  a  special  meeting  to  receive  and  act 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  73 

upon  his  absolute  resignation.  The  meeting  was  accordingly  called, 
February  15th,  the  matter  was  fully  and  deliberately  discussed, 
and  it  was  resolved  "  that  it  is  with  extreme  and  lively  feelings  of 
regret  and  sorrow  that  any  circumstances  should  have  arisen  to 
render  the  dissolution  of  the  connection  necessary,  and  we  do 
unanimously  agree  that  the  said  resignation  of  the  Rev.  John  Brady 
be  accepted."  The  wardens  were  instructed  to  apprise  Mr.  Brady 
and  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  this  action.  The  Vestry  also  re- 
solved, ''  Considering  the  beneficial  labors  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brady 
in  this  congregation  and  as  a  testimony  of  the  regret  of  the  Vestry 
at  the  dissolution  of  their  connection,  that  the  sum  of  five  hundred 
dollars  be  presented  to  him  accompanied  by  a  copy  of  this  resolu- 
tion signed  by  the  wardens."  The  Rev.  Mr.  Brady,  with  a  view 
to  undertaking  clerical  work  in  the  Diocese  of  Virginia,  applied  to 
Bishop  Hobart  for  canonical  transfer,  which  the  Bishop  apparently 
was  reluctant  to  grant.  In  a  letter  found  in  the  Hobart  MSS. 
he  strongly  urged  upon  the  Bishop  the  importance  to  him  of 
the  issuance  of  the  usual  Letter  Dimissory  which  Bishop  Moore  of 
Virginia,  who  had  been  made  acquainted  with  all  the  facts  in  the 
case,  had  expressed  himself  as  willing  to  accept.  In  the  New  York 
Diocesan  Journal  of  1816,  Bishop  Hobart  records  '*  the  Rev.  John 
Brady,  formerly  assistant  minister  in  St.  George's  Church,  has  re- 
moved to  another  diocese. ' ' 

The  resignation  of  the  assistant  minister  was  very  soon  followed 
by  that  of  the  Rector.  At  the  Vestry  meeting,  April  1,  1816,  there 
was  presented  and  read  a  communication  from  Doctor  Kewley 
tendering  his  resignation,  but  in  view  of  the  present  peculiar  situa- 
tion of  the  Church  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  postpone  decision 
upon  a  question  of  so  much  importance  until  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Vestry.  Meanwhile  the  annual  election  was  held,  April  16,  1816, 
and  a  considerable  change  was  effected  in  the  personnel  of  the 
Vestry.  The  two  wardens  were  re-elected,  but  of  the  eight  vestry- 
men three  only  retained  their  positions. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  new  Vestry,  April  22d,  a  communica- 
tion of  that  date  was  received  from  Doctor  Kewley  in  which  he 
renewed  his  resignation  conformably  to  his  former  communications, 
which,  for,  the  completeness  of  the  record,  were  then  ordered  to  be 
inserted  on  the  minutes  and  which  are  here  reproduced  for  the 
same  purpose  in  chronological  order  and  that  the  painful  situation 
at  that  time,  from  his  point  of  view,  may  be  thoroughly  understood. 
They  are  each  addressed  to  the  church  wardens  and  vestrymen  of 
St.  George's  Church. 


74  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

City  of  New  York,  25th  March,  1816. 
Gentlemen 

When  I  determined  to  return  to  the  United  States,  I  designed,  if  my 
health  and  other  circumstances  permitted,  to  have  remained,  at  the  least, 
two  years,  in  hopes  that  during  that  time  I  might  have  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  the  Church  over  wliich  you  had  called  me  to  preside  as  Rector  settled 
in  harmony  and  peace.  Circumstances  have,  however,  occurred  since  my  re- 
turn, arising  from  events,  I  by  no  means  could  have  anticipated,  which, 
united  to  a  certain  state  of  my  own  feelings,  incline  me  to  wish  a  dissolution 
of  my  connection  with  St.  George's  Church,  to  take  place  much  earlier  than 
I  had  contemplated. 

My  intention  to  resign  shortly  has  been  known  to  you  and  the  congrega- 
tion for  some  weeks  past  in  an  informal  manner,  and  the  information 
I  have  received  of  the  constructions  put  upon  that  intention  has  not  con- 
tributed to  soften  down  those  feelings  of  which  I  complain,  but  rather  to 
increase  them,  so  that  I  find  mj'self  unable  to  go  through  the  duties  of  my 
office,  either  Avith  conscious  satisfaction  to  myself,  or  with  a  prospect  of 
giving  satisfaction  to  the  congregation. 

Be  pleased,  therefore,  to  accept  this  communication  as  a  tender  of  my 
resignation — to  be  carried  into  effect  on  as  early  a  day  as  may  be  judged 
by  you  compatible  with  the  interests  of  the  Church.  Still  it  is  my  wish 
that  the  dissolution  may  take  effect  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  May  next. 

In  making  this  communication  I  can  assure  you.  Gentlemen,  and  through 
you  the  congregation,  that  a  sincere  desire  to  remove  every  obstacle  to  a 
permanent  settlement  of  the  Church,  and  a  duty  I  owe  to  myself  in  con- 
sequence of  feelings  which  cannot  be  described  by  words,  induces  me  to  this 
step,  and  not  any  differences  in  opinion  which  may  have  arisen  among  the 
members  of  the  congregation  respecting  late  circumstances.  I  am  not  in- 
sensible to  the  urbanity  with  which  I  have  been  treated,  nor  to  the  welcome 
reception  I  met  with  on  my  return  from  Europe.  I  shall  not  cease  to  wish 
you,  collectively  and  individually,  the  continued  and  increasing  enjoyment 
of  true  happiness  both  in  this  world  and  the  next. 

May  the  great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls  provide  you  with  a  pastor 
whose  labours  among  you  shall  be  attended  with  his  blessing,  and  be 
crowned  with  full  success  in  the  establishment  of  peace,  harmony  and  true 
religion.  I  remain  Gentlemen 

Yours  Respectfully 

John  Kewley. 

City  of  New  York,  28th  March,  1816. 
Gentlemen 

Being  informed  you  meet  this  day  to  take  into  consideration  the  com- 
mimieation  from  me  to  your  board  dated  25th  inst.,  I  have  the  request  to 
make  that  any  communication  you  may  have  to  make  to  me  in  reply  may 
be  done  in  writing,  inasmuch  as  mj-  own  sensations  on  this  occasion  prompt 
me  to  decline  all  personal  interAnews  and  verbal  arrangements  on  the  subject 
I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  lay  before  you.  Your  candor  will,  I  trust, 
acquit  me  from  all  charge  of  disrespect  in  making  this  request,  since  I 
sincerely  assure  you. 

I  Remain  yours  Respectfully, 

John  KIewley. 


ORGANIZATION    AND    KEWLEY    RECTORSHIP  75 

New  York,  1st  April,  1816. 
Gentlemen 

I  received  your  communication  dated  Thursday  last,  but  the  business 
in  hand  makes  so  deej)  an  impression  on  my  mind  that  I  wish  to  avoid  any 
personal  appearance.  That  as  little  impediment  as  possible  may  be  thrown, 
in  the  way,  I  beg  leave  to  suggest  the  propriety  of  your  forming,  after 
deliberation  among  yourselves,  some  conclusion  which  may  be  transmitted 
to  me,  after  which  1  can  call  a  meeting  to  receive  whatever  sanction  of 
mine  may  be  then  thought  necessary,  or  if  my  express  consent  to  be  con- 
sidered as  i^resent,  or  as  delegating  the  right  of  the  Rector  to  one  or  the 
other  of  the  wardens  may  be  deemed  sufficient  I  now  give  it.  You  will 
I  trust  do  me  the  justice  to  believe  I  am  influenced  in  the  course  I  pursue, 
by  a  desire  to  preserve  my  own  peace  of  mind;  this  I  find  I  cannot  do  in 
the  midst  of  the  prevailing  collisions.  If  an  immediate  dissolution  of  the 
connection  is  determmed.  I  am  ready  to  give  my  concun-ence.  If  it  be 
determined  to  take  place  the  first  of  May  next,  I  shall  be  equally  satisfied. 
And  if,  even  then,  a  clergyman  is  not  provided,  and  my  services  should  be 
deemed  acceptable  for  a  few  weeks  longer,  I  should  do  all  in  my  power 
to  prevent  inconvenience.  Still  I  must  not  be  considered  as  taking  any 
part  whatever  in  respect  of  the  approaching  election.  That  the  disagreeable 
appearances  Avhieh  at  present  cause  uneasiness  to  the  Church  may  soon  be 
removed  and  be  succeeded  b}'  real  happiness  and  prosperity  is  the  sincere 
prayer  of  yours  Respectfully, 

John  Kewley. 

City  of  New  York,  22nd  April,  1816. 
Gentlemen 

So  great  a  change  having  taken  place  in  the  Corporation  of  St.  George's 
Church,  my  former  communications  may  not,  jierhaps,  in  all  points  require 
discussion.  Still  it  is  my  wish  you  would  take  the  principal  point,  viz, 
my  resignation  of  the  office  of  Rector  into  consideration  as  soon  as  pos- 
sibly can  be  done,  consistently  in  your  judgment  with  the  interest  of  the 
Church.  Since  the  departure  of  the  late  Assistant  Minister,  I  have  pro- 
cured the  sen'ices  of  that  office  to  be  supplied,  if  not  in  the  most  acceptable 
to  the  congTegation,  yet  in  the  best  manner  I  was  able.  The  difficulty 
I  have  experienced  in  tliis  respect,  convinces  me  I  cannot  expect  to  procure 
any  assistance  much  longer.  Though  my  general  health  is,  I  think,  much 
better  than  it  was  before  my  voyage  to  Europe,  still  I  find  from  experience 
that  I  am  utterly  unable  to  celebrate  the  required  services,  especially  in  the 
forenoon.  If  I  shall  ever  be  relieved  from  the  indisposition  which  occasions 
this  inability,  that  relief,  I  am  con\anced,  can  only  be  procured  through  an 
abstinence  for  some  length  of  time  from  the  public  performances  of  min- 
isterial duties.  For  a  short  time  after  my  arrival  from  England,  I  had 
great  reason  to  think  I  had  in  a  great  measure  obtained  the  relief  I  wished. 
But  experience  now  convinces  me  I  was  in  an  error.  However  great,  there- 
fore, the  sacrifice,  and  however  limited  in  prospect  my  future  means  of 
subsistence,  still  I  feel  obliged  by  the  dictates  of  conscience  &  by  a  duty 
I  owe  to  the  Church  to  relinquish  an  office,  the  obligations  of  which  I  am 
unable  to  fulfill,  with  jDrospeets  of  giving  satisfaction  and  promoting  the 
real  welfare  of  those  committed  to  my  charge. 

These  observations  will,  1  hope,  convince  you  that  my  perseverance  in  the 


76  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

resolution  to  resign  the  Rectory  is  founded  in  necessity.  You  Gentlemen 
were  I  doubt  not  chosen  to  your  present  station  iinder  the  impression  that 
it  would  soon  become  your  duty  to  elect  a  Rector.  It  is  my  wish  you 
should  enter  upon  that  service.  To  the  person  of  your  choice,  I  declare 
myself  ready  to  yield  the  otfiee  and  all  its  appendages  as  soon  as  he  may 
arrive  in  New  York  to  take  charge  of  the  same. 

My  design  to  return  to  Europe  and  my  desire  to  take  a  summer  passage 
will,  I  trust,  be  an  inducement  to  you  to  enter  upon  such  measures  im- 
mediately, as  in  your  wisdom  you  may  deem  promotive  of  the  future  happy 
and  prosperous  establishment  of  St.  George's  Church.  With  earnest  prayer 
that  you  may  be  directed  by  the  spirit  of  divine  wisdom  in  the  work  before 
you 

I  Remain  Gentlemen 

Yours  most  respectfully 

John  Kewlet. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing  letters,  there  was  no  alternative  but 
to  accept  the  Rector's  resignation,  and  the  following  communication 
enclosing  a  copy  of  the  resolution  of  acceptance  was  sent  to  him 
signed  by  the  members  of  the  Vestry : 

St.  George's  Church,  25th  April,  1816. 
To  the  Rev'd  John  Kewley. 

The  wardens  and  vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church  have  considered  your 
resignation  of  the  Rectoiy  with  the  respectful  attention  due  to  so  inter- 
esting a  subject,  and  now  present  you  in  the  enclosed  resolution  the  result 
of  their  deliberations.  They  regret  the  circiunstances  of  your  health  and 
of  your  feelings,  that  have  determined  you  to  resign  your  charge,  and  they 
sincerely  hope  you  will  realize  all  the  benefits  expected  from  a  change  of 
climate. 

On  this  occasion  it  is  due  to  the  sentiments  of  respect  they  have  invari- 
ably entertained  for  your  character,  and  to  the  interest  they  take  in  your 
future  welfare,  that  you  should  be  assured,  to  whatever  destination  it  may 
be  the  will  of  the  all-wise  Disposer  of  Events  to  call  you,  j^ou  will  carry 
with  you  their  most  friendly  regards  and  their  fervent  praj^ers  for  your 
happiness  here  and  forever. 

Notice  of  Doctor  Kewley 's  resignation  was  officially  forwarded  to 
the  Right  Rev.  Doctor  Hobart  and  his  salary  ordered  to  be  con- 
tinued until  August  1st. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE    MILNOR    PERIOD 

(1816-1830) 

On  the  2d  of  May,  while  still  officiating  in  the  church,  Doctor 
Kewley  was  requested  to  write  to  the  Eev.  Mr.  Milnor  of  Phila- 
delphia and  inform  him  of  the  vacancy  in  the  rectorship,  and  that 
the  Vestry  were  desirous  of  having  him  "  perform  Divine  Service 
and  preach,"  and  that  he  "  would  afford  any  facility  in  his  power 
for  effecting  that  object  at  as  early  a  period  as  it  can  be  accom- 
plished." Doctor  Kewley  promptly  complied  with  the  wish  of  the 
Vestry,  and  the  following  was  in  part  Mr.  Milnor 's  reply : 

Philadelphia,  May  7,  1816. 

Rev.  and  dear  Sir — Your  favor  of  the  4th  inst.  was  duly  received,  and 
I  have  to  thank  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church  for  their  friendly  in- 
vitation, and  you  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you  have  been  good  enough 
to  make  known  to  me  their  wishes. 

It  is  difificult  for  me  to  return  an  inamediate  answer,  because  a  compUance 
with  the  request  to  visit  New  York,  thus  officially  made,  would  imply  a 
willingness  on  my  part  to  receive  the  situation,  if  it  should  be  offered; 
and  that  is  a  point  of  too  embarrassing  a  nature  to  be  decided  at  once.  I 
am  attached  to  my  present  place  of  residence,  and  to  the  congregations 
in  which  I  minister,  by  so  many  strong  and  endearing  ties,  that  nothing  but 
a  sense  of  manifest  duty  could  induce  me  to  separate  myself  from  either. 
If,  however,  the  leadings  of  divine  Providence  appeared  to  demand  a  dif- 
ferent direction  of  my  labors,  I  would  submit  to  any  sacrifice  for  the  fur- 
therance of  that  precious  cause,  to  which,  by  the  help  of  God's  grace,  I 
purpose  my  remaining  days  shall  be  assiduously  consecrated.  I  will,  there- 
fore, ask  permission  to  keep  for  a  few  days  under  consideration  a  request 
with  which  I  could  not  comply  without  a  pretty  decided  determination  in 
my  own  mind  to  accede  to  ulterior  measures,  should  the  Vestry  and 
congregation  of  St.  George's  judge  favorably  of  my  capacity  to  serv^e  them, 
and  propose  my  becoming  their  Rector. 

In  a  further  communication  on  the  14th  instant  he  declined  the 
invitation.  A  deputation,  however,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Van  Wage- 
nen  and  Brackett  of  the  Vestry  and  Messrs.  Hicks  and  Tredwell  of 
the  congregation,  was  designated  "  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia  to 


78  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

hear  Mr.  Milnor  and  to  report  their  opinion."  Upon  their  fa- 
vorable report  the  Vestry  determined  to  call  Mr.  Milnor  to  the 
rectorship  by  adopting  the  following: 

The  wardens  and  vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New 
York,  having  full  confidence  in  the  learning,  zeal,  and  piety  of  the  Rev'd 
James  Milnor,  and  being  earnestly  desirous  the  congi-egation  they  represent 
should  have  the  benefit  of  his  usefull  labors  in  the  service  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Therefore,  resolved  that  the  Rev'd  James  Milnor  be,  and  he  is 
hereby  called  to  the  Rectorship  of  St.  George's  Church,  with  a  salai-y  of 
two  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  payable  quarterly,  together  with  the  use 
of  the  parsonage  house  belonging  to  this  Church,  and  that  there  is  expected 
from  him  two  sei^vdces  &  seraions  on  each  Sunday,  the  customary  sendees 
&  sermons  on  fasts  and  festivals,  and  the  ordinary  parochial  duties  of  a 
faithful  minister  of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolution,  signed  by  the  wardens 
with  the  seal  of  this  Corporation  aflixed  thereto  and  countersigned  by  the 
clerk,  be  transmitted  to  the  Rev'd  James  Milnor  in  a  suitable  enclosure. 

The  following  letter  was  adopted  to  cover  the  call  now  to  be  sent 
to  the  Rev.  James  Milnor  and  was  ordered  to  be  signed  by  the 
wardens : 

St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  6th  June,  1816. 
Rev'd  James  Milnor, 

Rev'd  Sir, — It  is  with  feelings  of  great  satisfaction  that  we  present  you 
the  resolution  enclosed,  which  seems  to  need  no  other  explanation  than  that 
the  Rector's  house  is  rented  until  the  1st  May  next  at  one  thousand  dollars 
per  annum,  and  that  the  rent  which  will  be  paid  to  the  Rector  is  considered 
as  equivalent  to  the  use  of  the  house. 

Convinced  we  can  oifer  you  no  motive  for  accepting  this  call,  but  the 
prospect  of  more  extended  usefullness  in  the  cause  to  which  you  have  so 
disinterestedly  dedicated  your  future  life,  permit  us  to  obser\^e  that  our 
congregation  now  large  is  capable,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  of  being 
very  greatly  increased,  and  considering  the  anxiety  prevailing  among  us 
to  hear  the  tidings  of  salvation,  we  cherish  a  confident  hope  that,  mider 
your  ministrations,  our  Zion  may  be  brought  to  rejoice  in  the  strength  of 
her  Lord.  We  believe  the  harvest  may  be  great,  but  the  labourers  are 
wanting  &  we  trust  you  will  not  decline  what  we  hope  you  and  all  of  us 
may  be  led  by  the  spirit  of  God  to  consider  as  the  summons  of  the  Lord 
of  the  Harvest.  We  are  not  conscious  that  any  circumstance  can  exist  to 
induce  a  doubt  in  your  mind  of  this  being  a  call  of  duty,  but  anxious  to 
omit  no  proper  means  of  securing  to  our  congi-egation  your  useful  labours, 
if  an^^  such  should  exist,  we  trust  you  will  give  us  an  opportunity  to  ex- 
plain, which  we  doubt  not  can  be  done  on  all  points  in  a  manner  entirely 
satisfactory. 

Requesting  your  communications  may  be  addressed  to  either  of  the  under- 
signed, we  remain  with  sentiments  of  great  respect. 

Rev'd^  Sir 

Your  Friends 

Gerrit  H.  Van  Wagenen. 
Harry  Peters. 


.,^,.«^^  ^^==^2^^!^  ^  ^-^/^...^r^. 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  79 

The  following  was  Mr.  Milnor's  first  reply: 

Philadelphia^  June  10,  1816. 

Gentlemen — I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  favor  of  the  6th 
inst.,  and  to  return  you  my  thanks  for  the  friendly  and  obliging  terms  in 
which  you  have  been  good  enough  to  communicate  the  call  of  the  wardens 
and  vestrymen  of  St.  George's,  to  the  rectorship  of  that  Church. 

Flattering  as  I  consider  an  invitation  to  that  resiDectable  charge,  I  trust 
that  on  a  subject  so  interesting  as  that  of  a  permanent  removal  from  the 
place  of  my  birth,  to  which  so  many  attachments,  relative,  social,  and 
religious,  bind  my  affections,  you  will  not  be  surprised  at  any  hesitation 
which  has  been  manifested  on  my  part,  in  encouraging  the  measiu'e,  or  that 
may  now  be  evinced  in  regard  to  a  compliance  with  your  offer. 

Of  one  thing  1  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  if,  after  proiDer  consideration, 
duty  ajjpears  to  require  of  me  the  surrender  of  personal  convenience,  it 
shall  be  made;  and  that,  should  di\'ine  Providence  direct  my  course  to 
New  York,  as  a  measure  of  respect  towards  the  congregation  of  St.  George's, 
and  with  a  view  to  a  better  determination  of  a  point  of  so  much  importance 
both  to  them  and  to  myself,  I  propose  to  visit  New  York  the  latter  part 
of  the  present  week,  and  if  it  be  agreeable,  jDreaeh  in  jour  Church  on  the 
ensuing  Sunday. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  subject  will  be  deeply  reflected  on  by  me;  and 
I  trust  I  shall  have  your  prayers  associated  with  my  own,  imploring  such 
a  result  as  shall  be  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  promotion  of  the  kingdom 
of  His  Son. 

I  am,  with  sentiments  of  great  respect. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

James  Milnor. 


Gerrit  H.  Van  Wagenen,  \  ^^^^        ,tc. 
Harry  Peters.  > 


The  proposed  visit  to  New  York  materialized  as  intimated,  and 
on  the  following  Sunday  Mr.  Milnor  officiated  at  both  services  in 
St.  George's,  to  the  evident  and  universal  satisfaction  of  the  con- 
gregation. His  first  sermon  was  that  which  he  had  preached  di- 
rectly after  his  ordination  from  the  text,  ''  I  am  not  ashamed  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ."  His  duty  to  accept  the  call  became  more 
clear  to  him  as  he  looked  over  the  field  and  listened  to  the  senti- 
ments of  the  people.  After  spending  another  Sunday  in  St. 
George's  he  returned  to  Philadelphia  to  meet  the  trial  involved  in 
dissolution  of  the  varied  and  close  ties  which  bound  him  to  his 
native  city.  Meanwhile  an  effort  was  being  made  to  retain  his 
services  there  by  an  offer  of  the  Rectorship  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 
but  the  effort  was  regretfully  abandoned,  as  it  became  more  evident 
that  he  was  feeling  strongly  inclined  to  accept  the  New  York  charge. 
Both  to  Mrs.  Milnor  and  to  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  he  had  in- 
timated his  probable  decision,  and  the  following  letter  from  that 


80  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

venerated  prelate  was  received  by  liim  before  Mr.  Milnor's  return 
home: 

Philadelphia,  June  20,  1816. 

Rev,  and  dear  Sir — I  have  received  yours  of  yesterday,  not  without 
sensibility  at  the  prospect  of  the  dissolution  of  a  connection  begun  with 
my  approbation,  continued  to  my  entire  satisfaction,  and  expected  by  me 
to  be  as  lastinc:  as  the  remainder  of  my  life.  Being  aware,  however,  how 
incomijetent  we  are  to  determine  on  the  comj^arative  probabilities  of  use- 
fulness in  different  fields  of  labor,  I  do  not  permit  myself  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment on  the  question  of  the  wisdom  of  the  measure  adopted  by  you,  but 
most  sincerely  wish  that  it  may  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church,  and  to  the 
comfort  of  yourself  and  of  the  amiable  lady  who  is  equally  interested 
in  the  issue. 

Had  my  feelings  been  ever  hurt  by  anything  which  has  passed  during 
our  connection,  I  should  have  made  the  allowance,  intimated  in  your  letter, 
of  its  being  unintentional;  but  there  has  been  no  cause  of  such  an  allow- 
ance. I  will  flatter  myself  that  there  has  been  as  little  appearance  of 
offence  on  my  part;  since,  othei'wise,  you  would  not  have  declared  so  friend- 
ly regret  for  the  ceasing  of  the  relation  in  which  we  have  stood  to  one 
another. 

I  wrote  the  above,  intending  to  send  it  by  Mr.  Bowen;  but  after  his  leav- 
ing me,  there  ensued  some  inteiTuptions,  which  continued  beyond  the  hour 
of  his  expected  departure  from  the  city. 

I  remain,  your  affectionate  brother, 

Wm.   White. 

It  had  been  Mr.  Milnor's  intention  to  place  the  call  in  the  hands 
of  the  Vestry,  to  be  renewed  or  not  at  their  option  after  his  Sunday 
ministrations  in  St.  George 's ;  but  the  evidence  of  unanimous  desire 
on  the  part  of  Vestry  and  people  that  he  should  accept,  was  so 
convincing  that  he  laid  aside  the  communication  he  had  written 
and  sent  instead  the  following : 

New  York,  June  20,  1816. 
Gentlemen 

Having  suspended  my  decision  upon  your  obliging  call  to  the  Rectorship 
of  St.  George's  until  I  had  an  opportunity  of  -visiting  the  congregation 
and  they  of  hearing  me  perform  Divine  Service  and  preach,  the  imanimity 
which  I  am  since  assured  prevails  both  in  your  body  and  amongst  the 
people  leaves  no  doubt  in  my  mind  of  its  being  my  duty  to  comply  with 
their  wishes. 

I  accordingly  accept  the  call,  and  implore  the  great  Head  of  the  Church 
to  accompany  with  his  blessing  the  connection  thus  formed  between  us. 

Some  time  will  be  requisite  for  procuring  the  dissolution  of  my  present 
engagement  in  Philadelphia  &  for  settling  my  concerns  there.  Any  ac- 
commodation, therefore,  in  regard  to  the  time  of  commencing  my  functions 
that  may  be  found  convenient  to  you  will  be  acceptable. 

I  remain,  Gentlemen,  with  gratitude  &  respect, 

Your  ob't  seivant, 

James  Milnor. 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  81 

The  Vestry  at  once  ordered  that  the  new  Rector  should  be  con- 
sidered as  taking  charge  of  the  parish  July  10th,  at  which  date  his 
Philadelphia  engagement  was  understood  to  terminate;  that  his 
salary  and  use  of  the  parsonage  house  should  then  begin,  with  the 
effect  that  during  the  life  of  the  existing  lease  of  the  parsonage  the 
rent  thereof  should  be  paid  over  to  him;  that  the  leave  of  absence 
for  the  settlement  of  his  affairs  be  granted:  that  a  committee  take 
charge  of  obtaining  for  him  a  house  and  afford  him  facilities  for  the 
removal  of  himself  and  family;  that  the  expense  of  such  removal 
to  New  York  should  be  defrayed  by  the  Corporation  and  that  the 
Bishop  of  New  York  should  be  notified  of  his  election. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Vestry  the  following  letter  was  re- 
ceived from  the  late  Rector : 

New  York,  20th  June,  1816. 
Gentlemen 

With  great  satisfaction  I  view  the  choice  you  have  made  of  a  clergyman 
to  succeed  me  in  the  Rectory  of  St.  George's  Church  and  sincerely  con- 
gratulate you  on  the  occasion. 

I  have  no  doubt  but  that  he  will  be  the  happy  instrument  of  establish- 
ing that  peace  and  harmony  so  much  to  be  desired  in  every  society,  but 
especially  in  one  which  has  the  concerns  of  eternity  for  its  object. 

My  connection  with  you  as  a  Rector  in  a  legal  sense  as  defined  in  the 
Act  of  Incorporation  has  been  dissolved  since  the  time  of  your  acceptance 
of  my  resignation. 

The  painfull  etiquette  of  a  formal  and  personal  farewell  will,  I  trust, 
be  dispensed  with.  The  omission  of  it  will  not,  I  trust,  be  construed  mto 
any  want  of  respect  or  affection  towards  you  and  the  congregation  you 
represent.  It  proceeds  from  a  consciousness  that  I  should  be  inadequate 
to  the  task. 

I  do  not  leave  you  without  expressing  to  you  my  sincere  wishes  and 
prayers  for  your  happiness  individually  and  collectively  both  as  respects 
this  life  and  that  which  is  to  come.  Our  separation  will,  I  hope,  be  of  last- 
ing benefit  to  the  congregation,  for  though  the  sacrifice  was  great  which 
I  had  to  make  I  was  fully  convinced  I  could  not  perform  the  requisite 
duties  with  satisfaction  and  benefit  to  the  people  or  to  my  own  conscience. 

Though  we  are  about  to  part,  most  probably  forever  on  this  side  of 
eternity,  let  us  hope  that  the  Lord  of  all  will  so  take  us  under  His  guidance 
and  ijrotection  and  so  dis]iose  us  by  His  grace  that  we  may  at  last  be  found 
meet  to  reign  together  with  Christ  as  members  of  His  Church  triumphant 
in  His  eternal  kingdom  of  blessedness  of  peace  of  harmony  and  love. 
Your  late  affectionate  Rector, 

John  Kjewley. 

Doctor  Kewley  left  the  country  in  July,  but  before  his  departure 

he  penned  the  following  remarkable  letter  to  the  Bishop   of  the 

Diocese,  which  is  transcribed  from  the  Hobart  MSS.,  remarkable 

for  its  revelation  of  his  long-time  disposition  to  return  to  the  Church 

6 


82  HISTORY    OB^    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

of  Rome,  for  its  attribution  of  delay  in  taking  the  step  to  his  anxiety 
for  the  welfare  of  St.  George's  congregation,  for  his  clear  intima- 
tion that  others  besides  himself  were  about  to  take  a  similar  step, 
and  for  his  plea  for  a  fair  weighing  of  the  arguments  on  the  part 
of  what  he  calls  "  the  Catholic  Church  ": 

New  York,  14  July,  1816. 
Right  Rev'd  and  d'r  Sir, 

Being  on  (he  point  of  my  departure  from  the  United  States  with  the 
design  of  spending  the  remainder  of  my  days  in  Europe  and  considering 
our  late  connection  with  each  other,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  inform  you,  and 
through  you,  my  brethren  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  who  have 
engaged  in  the  ministry,  of  the  revolution  which  has  taken  ]ilace  in  my 
mind  respecting  religion,  deprecating  at  the  same  time  all  controvei-sy  on 
the  subject.  This  revolution  has  compelled  me  to  lay  aside  the  exercise  of 
ecclesiastical  functions  and  to  retire  to  private  life.  The  ease  is  as  follows: 
I  was  born  and  baptized  in  the  Church  of  England,  but  from  the  age  of 
seventeen  to  that  of  twenty-three  or  thereabouts  I  was  a  student  in  the 
English  Secular  College  of  Douay;  from  thence  I  went  to  the  universities 
of  Louvain,  Edinburgh,  and  Glasgow  successively;  at  the  last  of  these  I 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  During  this  period  of  my  life 
I  was  a  professor  and,  as  I  believe,  a  sincere  i^rofessor  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion.  My  sentiments  in  its  favour  were  strong  and  continued 
so  till  a  more  free  intercourse  with  the  world  gradually  led  me  into  a  state 
of  apathy  respecting  religion.  In  this  state  I  remained  till  about  two  years 
before  I  received  Deacon's  Orders  from  Bishop  (^laggett,  which  by  reading, 
&c.,  I  had  persuaded  myself  I  could  conscientiously  receive  in  a  communion, 
which  I  esteemed  the  same  with  that  in  which  I  had  received  baptism.  My 
conduct  in  the  exercise  of  the  orders  I  received  is  Avell  known.  One  forcible 
reason  which  hath  had  much  influence  on  my  mind  is  the  very  question- 
able shape  in  which  you  received  Episcopal  consecration.  This  led  me  to 
an  examination  on  the  subject  and  excited  doubts,  which  the  arguments 
adduced  in  support  of  its  validity  could  neither  satisfy  nor  overcome.  In 
the  course  of  this  examination  other  doubts  were  excited  respecting  the 
orders  of  the  English  Church.  My  former  sentiments  began  to  re\'ive  and 
these  became  more  strong  during  my  late  visit  to  Europe.  I  resolved, 
however,  not  to  be  hasty  in  a  matter  of  such  importance.  Knowing  the 
disagreeable  state  into  which  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  Church 
would  be  thrown  by  a  vacancy  at  that  time  taking  place  in  the  Rectoiy,  I 
determined  to  return  and,  if  possible,  make  my  mind  easy  in  a  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  the  office,  at  the  least  till  the  congregation  was  settled  and 
the  election  of  a  successor  could  be  entered  on  with  safety  to  the  peace 

of  the  congregation.    Late  circumstances,  I  speak  in  allusion  to  Mr.  B 's 

case,  have  hastened  and  accomplished  that  event ;  I  rejoice  that  a  fair  pros- 
pect of  peace  and  harmony  to  that  congregation  opens  to  view,  and  I  also 
rejoice  that  the  time  is  arrived  and  matters  so  disposed  that  I  need  no 
longer  fight  against  convictions  I  find  it  impossible  to  overcome.  It  may 
be  painful  to  you  to  read  what  I  have  said  respecting  myself,  but  I  have 
reason  to  believe  mine  you  will  find  will  not  be  a  solitary  case.  Time  will, 
however,  develop  my  meaning.  In  leaving  you  I  do  not.  according  to  your 
own  principles,  leave  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Neither  do 
I  lose  in  the  least  that  respect,  esteem,  &  affection  I  have  always  entertained 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  83 

for  my  clerical  brethren  with  whom  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  an  acquain- 
tance, and  I  think  I  may  venture  to  assert  that  the  fault  shall  not  be  mine 
if  a  friendly  correspondence  is  not  still  kejDt  up  between  you,  me,  and  some 
others.  If  I  have  not  latterly  had  frequent  intercourse  with  some  of  them, 
it  was  not  from  any  disrespect,  but  to  avoid  conferences  which  might  have 
given  pain  and  could  be  productive  of  no  good  effect.  Let  me  be  believed 
when  I  assure  them  my  friendship  and  affection  for  them  is  not  abated. 
In  thus  taking  farewell  of  you  and  my  brethren  I  must  add  a  wish,  that 
in  speaking,  writing,  or  j^reaching  respecting  the  Catholic  Church  each  one 
would  form  his  opinions  and  found  his  arguments  on  what  she  confessedly 
teaches  in  her  creeds  and  authorized  books  of  doctrine  and  not  on  vulgar 
and  false  statements  which  prejudice,  civil  policy,  ignorance,  and  party 
spirit  have  fabricated.  When  we  read  the  attacks  of  her  adversaries  let 
us  next  read  her  defences.  A  course  like  this  would,  I  believe,  produce  a 
conviction  that  the  points  of  difference  are  neither  so  very  numerous  nor 
of  so  great  magnitude  as  is  generallj"-  supposed.  The  collision  at  least 
would  not  be  so  violent  as  is  the  case  when  misreprestation  rules  and  man- 
ages the  combat.  If  men  would  take  as  much  pains  towards  a  reconcilia- 
tion as  is  taken  towards  effecting  and  perpetuating  separation  a  reunion 
is  an  event  I  should  not  consider  as  impossible. 

1  bid  you  and  my  brethren  a  most  affectionate  farewell  and  may  Al- 
mighty God  for  Christ's  sake  take  us  all  into  the  arms  of  His  favour  and 
mercy  and  so  dispose  us  by  His  grace  that  we  may  hereafter  meet  at  His 
right  hand,  where  is  fulness  of  jo}^  and  pleasure  forevermore. 

Yours  most  respectfully  and  affectionately, 

John  Kewley. 

The  mingled  feelings  of  surprise  and  indignation  with  which 
the  Vestry  and  people  of  St.  George's  learned  that  their  late  Rector 
had  barely  reached  the  other  side  when  he  formally  renewed  his 
allegiance  to  the  Church  of  Rome  may  better  be  imagined  than 
described.  Few,  if  any  of  them,  knew  aught  of  his  earlier  life, 
which  is  briefly  outlined  in  the  biographical  sketch  given  of  him 
as  of  the  other  Rectors  in  Part  Second  of  this  history.  The  journal 
kept  by  Doctor  Milnor  on  his  visit  to  England  in  1830  contains 
this  allusion  to  Doctor  Kewley.  The  gentlemen  mentioned  were 
presbyters  of  the  Church  of  England  and  the  date  was  April  17th: 

Mr.  March  and  Mr.  Mayer  were  of  our  little  dinner-party  at  the  high- 
bailiff's.  The  afternoon  was  spent  in  edifying  conversation  on  various 
subjects  connected  with  religion  and  the  Church. 

In  the  course  of  our  conversation,  a  curious  fact  was  developed  in  relation 
to  Doctor  Kewley.  my  predecessor  in  St.  George's.  Mr.  Mayer  said  that 
he  had  seen  him  in  Italy,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  him.  He  passes 
there  by  the  name  of  '  Father  Kewley  ' ;  but  Mr.  Mayer  says  he  knows 
his  true  name  to  be  Lawson,  and  that  he  has  a  brother  of  the  latter  name, 
now  living  in  Liverpool,  with  whom  also  he  is  acquainted.  He  has  no  doubt 
that  Doctor  Kewley  was  a  Jesuit  during  the  whole  time  of  his  i-esidence  in 
America. 


84  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

A  more  charitable  judgment  would  be  that  Doctor  Kewley  was 
a  man  of  marked  instability  of  conviction.  To  this  rather  than  to 
a  *'  moral  baseness  or  deliberate  hypocrisy  "  must  be  attributed  the 
unrest  of  his  somewhat  checkered  career. 

Rev.  Mr.  Milnor's  resignation  of  the  position  of  assistant  minister 
of  the  united  churches,  of  which  Bishop  White  was  rector — Christ 
Church,  St.  Peter's,  and  St.  James' — and  in  which  his  associate  as- 
sistants were  the  Rev.  James  Abercrombie  and  the  Rev.  Jackson 
Kemper,  occasioned  the  following  resolution,  June  28,  1816,  of  the 
Vestry  of  those  churches : 

Resolved,  That  the  said  resignation  be  entered  on  the  minutes,  with  an 
expression  of  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  Vestry  for  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mihior, 
their  regret  for  the  dissoh;tion  of  a  connection  which  had  so  hapi^ily  sub- 
sisted, and  their  best  wishes  for  his  usefulness  and  happiness  in  the  portion 
of  the  Lord's  Vineyard  to  wliieh  his  labors  are  to  be  transferred. 

His  last  remittance  for  balance  of  salary  from  the  Accounting 
Warden  in  Philadelphia  was  accompanied  by  the  kindly  sentiment 
that,  though  his  New  York  wardens  might  hand  him  "  bigger 
checks,  they  could  not  give  him  better  love." 

His  canonical  letter  of  transfer  from  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania 
was  submitted  to  the  Vestry  by  the  Bishop  of  New  -York,  together 
with  an  accompanying  communication  accepting  and  approving  the 
same: 

Philadelphia,  23d  June,  1816. 

I  certify  that  the  late  connection  of  the  Rev'd  James  Mihior  with  the 
united  churches  of  Christ's  Church,  St.  Peter's,  &  St.  James'  in  this  city 
has  been  regularly  dissolved.  Having  been  assisted  by  him  in  the  parochial 
duties  of  the  said  churches,  I  see  him  removed  from  us  with  regret  and 
with  recollections  of  the  harmony  which  has  subsisted  between  us  during 
our  united  ministiy.  I  also  respectfully  recommend  him  to  the  friendly 
reception  of  the  Right  Rev'd  the  Bishop  and  of  the  other  clergj^  of  the 
diocese  to  which  his  labours  are  to  be  transferred. 

Wm.  White. 
Bishop  of  ye  Pro't  Ep'l  Church  in  the  Comm'th  of  Pennsylvania. 

New  York,  July  2,  1816. 
Gent'm, 

I  hereby  inform  you  that  I  have  received  with  respect  to  the  Rev'd  James 
Milnor  the  testimonials  required  by  the  thirty-first  canon  of  the  General 
Convention  of  our  Church,  which  are  perfectly  satisfactory  to  me  &  honor- 
able to  that  gentleman. 

I  submit  them  to  your  perusal  with  a  request  that  they  be  returned  to  me. 
I  remain 

Y'r  very  obied't  friend  &  ser\-'t 

J.    H.    HOBART. 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  85 

The  Rev.  Ralph  Williston,  Rector  of  Zion  Church,  had  for  some 
time  past  assisted  the  late  Rector  in  the  work  of  the  parish,  with 
the  understanding  that  the  engagement  was  to  terminate  with  the 
arrival  of  a  new  Rector.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  wait  on 
Mr.  Williston  and  tender  to  him  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  for 
his  past  services  and  request  him  to  supply  the  Church  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  Rector-elect  *'  as  far  as  his  other  duties  would  allow," 
which  Mr.  Williston  expressed  his  willingness  to  do.  The  Rector 
himself,  however,  officiated  July  21st  and  28th  and  August  18th 
and  25th,  on  the  last  of  which  occasions  he  administered  the  Holy 
Communion  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  communicants.  Prior  to 
September  22d  his  family's  removal  to  New  York  had  been  effected 
and  he  officiated  thereafter  regularly  in  his  new  church. 

Bishop  Hobart  having  signified  his  readiness  to  institute  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Milnor  as  Rector  of  St.  George's  on  Monday,  September  30th, 
the  service  was  held  in  the  morning  of  that  day,  the  clergy  assisting 
therein  being  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Stebbins,  of  Schenectady,  and  the  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Bowen,  D.D.,  of  New  York.  The  original  letter  of  in- 
stitution is  in  the  possession  of  his  grandson,  the  Rev.  Charles  E. 
Milnor,  of  Philadelphia,  through  whose  courtesy  it  is  reproduced. 

LETTER  OF  INSTITUTION  AS  RECTOR  OF  ST.  GEORGE 's  CH.,  N.  YORK, 

SEPT.  30,  1816 

To  our  well-heloved  in  Christ,  The  Bev'd  James  Milnor,  Presbyter,  Greeting. 
We  do  by  these  presents  give  &  grant  unto  you, 
Seal  in    whose    learning,    diligence,    sound    doctrine,    and 

•J,  H.  H.  prudence  we   do   fully   confide   our   license   and   au- 

John  Henrv  Hobart,  thority  to  perfonn  the  office  of  a  Priest  in  St. 
Bishop  of  the  Protes't  George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York,  And  also 
Episcopal  Church  in  hereby  institute  you  into  said  Church  possessed  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  full  power  to  perform  every  act  of  sacerdotal  func- 
tion among  the  people  of  the  same;  you  continuing 
in  communion  with  us,  &  complying  with  the  rubrics  &  canons  of  the 
Church  &  with  such  lawful  directions  as  you  shall  at  any  time  receive 
from  us. 

And  as  a  canonically  instituted  Priest  into  the  office  of  Rector  of  St, 
George's  Church,  you  are  faithfully  to  feed  that  portion  of  the  flock  of 
Christ  which  is  now  entrusted  to  you ;  not  as  a  man  pleaser,  but  as  con- 
tinually bearing  in  mind,  that  you  are  accountable  to  us  here  &  to  the 
chief  Bishop  &  sovereign  Judge  of  all  hereafter. 

And  in  case  of  any  difference  between  you  &  your  congregation,  as  to  a 
separation  &  dissolution  of  all  sacerdotal  connection  between  you  and  them, 
we,  your  Bishop,  with  the  advice  of  our  Presbyters  are  to  be  the  ultimate 
arbiter  &  Judge. 

In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  affixed  our  Episcopal  seal  &  sig- 


8G  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

nature  at  New  lork  this  30tli  day  of  September  a.d.  1816  &  in  the  ninth 
year  of  our  consecration. 

"With  the  Rectorship  of  the  Rev.  Doctor  Milnor  begins  the  char- 
acteristic life  of  St.  George's  parish.  His  successor,  the  Rev.  Doctor 
Tyng,  wrote  in  appreciative  retrospect  of  it  what  may  assist  in  bet- 
ter understanding  of  the  incidents  and  action  unfolded  in  these 
annals  of  his  ministry: 

This  happy  event  decided  the  character  and  history  of  St.  George's 
Church  from  the  date  of  its  occurrence.  His  edifying  and  faithful  ministiy 
was  a  gracious  gift  from  God  and  the  Church  flourished  under  his  labors. 
St.  George's  became  a  leading  cliurch  in  the  United  States.  It  was  the 
standard  for  guidance  to  other  congregations  and  the  authority  and  pro- 
tection of  younger  and  more  secluded  ministers  in  their  efforts  to  establish 
and  maintain  the  Evangelical  i^rinciples  which  so  truly  distinguish  the  char- 
acter of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  its  standards  and  worship. 

St.  George's  maintained  this  influence  and  authority  during  the  whole 
life  of  its  venerated  Rector.  It  yielded  none  of  the  guiding  principles 
which  had  been  adopted,  and  gathered  a  large  and  influential  congregation. 
All  who  were  connected  with  it  were  united  in  love  and  reverence  for  him, 
in  perfect  sentiment  with  him,  and  active  and  earnest  in  carrying  fonvard 
these  discriminating  testimonies  through  all  congregations  which  came 
imder  their  influence  or  could  be  moved  by  their  example.  This  was  an 
unbroken  history  through  the  whole  of  Doctor  Milnor's  life. 

His  biographer,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  S.  Stone,  in  describing  his 
position  in  the  Church,  looldng  back  over  his  completed  career,  says, 
with  special  reference  to  the  Evangelical  clergy  of  his  time: 

He  was,  by  common  consent,  not  the  most  highly  gifted  man  in  all  their 
ranks — for  in  learning  and  mental  endowments,  some  were  possibly  his 
superiors — but,  from  various  causes,  the  most  widely  known  and  the  most 
largely  influential.  He  stood  most  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  For  thirty 
years  he  was  at  the  very  i^oint  of  convergence  and  radiation  of  all  our 
great  influences  and  movements.  He  was  at  the  centre  of  conflict  between 
the  Evangelical  and  the  anti-Evangelical  portions  of  our  Church;  nay,  for 
years  he  was,  in  his  own  pei-son,  the  one  point  against  which  the  most 
strenuous  assaults  of  the  latter  were  directed;  and  had  he  fallen,  many 
others  would  have  been  unable  to  stand. 

From  sympathy,  as  well  as  from  respect  and  veneration,  there  was  a 
rallying  around  him,  as  a  sort  of  Evangelical  centre.  He  touched  a  greater 
number  than  others  could  touch  of  religious  and  theological  minds  in  theii' 
forming  state.  He  touched  more  of  the  causes  which,  under  God,  generate 
Evangelical  results.  In  a  word,  through  the  early  training  of  liis  mind, 
the  practical  character  of  his  pursuits,  the  finished  amenity  of  his  man- 
ners, the  peculiar  post  of  labor  assigned  him,  and  above  all,  the  eminently 
intelligent  and  elevated  character  of  his  piety,  the  ]n'ovidence  of  God  gave 
him  a  position  which,  during  liis  life,  was  on  the  whole,  more  commanding 
than  that  of  any  other  Evangelical  clergyman  of  our  Church. 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  87 

The  new  Rector,  with  characteristic  energy,  addressed  himself 
to  the  work  before  him.  His  first  parochial  report  to  the  Diocesan 
Convention  in  the  month  following  his  institution  contains  this 
statement : 

The  present  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  from  the  in- 
sufficiency of  the  documents  left  by  his  predecessor  and  his  assistant,  is 
unable  to  make  a  return  of  the  number  of  marriages,  baptisms,  and  burials 
in  the  congi'egation  of  that  Church  during  the  past  year.  The  number  of 
communicants,  as  far  as  it  has  been  practicable  to  ascertain  them,  no  list 
of  their  names  having  been  left  by  the  late  Rector,  is  about  one  hundi-ed 
and  thirty. 

So  thoroughly  did  his  ministry  commend  itself  to  his  parishioners 
that  in  the  following  spring  the  Vestry  adopted  this  resolution: 
"  That  the  treasurer  be  authorized  and  required  out  of  the  funds, 
as  they  may  come  into  the  treasury,  to  pay  the  Rector  the  sum  of 
one  thousand  dollars  over  and  above  his  stated  salary  as  a  testimonial 
of  the  high  sense  this  Vestry  entertain  for  his  services  and  in  con- 
sideration of  the  great  expense  of  living  at  the  present  season." 
The  adoption  of  this  resolution  established  a  precedent  which  was 
annually  followed  and  one  thousand  dollars  per  year  was  regularly 
added  to  the  Rector's  salary.  The  Rector's  Thanksgiving  Day 
sermon  of  this  year  (1817)  was  so  approved  that  a  copy  of  the 
same  was  requested  by  the  Vestry  for  publication,  and  it  was  issued 
by  the  publisher  at  his  own  charges  and  risk. 

The  opening  of  the  newly  erected  building  in  the  rear  of  the 
Church  for  Sunday-school  and  lecture-room  purposes  on  Sunday, 
November  9th,  marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  parish.  Its 
extensive  and  eminently  successful  Sunday-school  work  has  been 
from  this  beginning  one  of  its  most  clearly  marked  characteristics, 
its  most  effective  instrument  of  spiritual  good,  its  crowning  claim 
to  honorable  distinction.  Its  three  distinguished  Rectors — Doctors 
MiLnor,  Tyng,  and  Rainsford — were  markedly  pre-eminent  in  laying 
stress  upon  it  and  guiding  it  to  most  beneficent  results.  The  people 
of  St.  George's  have  from  the  very  first  accorded  to  the  Sunday- 
schools  a  generous  support,  and,  what  is  more  important,  have 
freely  given  personal  and  consecrated  service  to  this  so  vital  agency 
in  the  upbuilding  of  the  Redeemer's  Kingdom.  It,  therefore,  may 
be  well  to  note  at  this  point  the  successive  steps  which  led  to  the 
erection  of  this  building  in  the  first  year  of  the  Mil  nor  Rectorship 
and  how  the  Sunday-school  work  fared  in  his  administration. 

The  inception  of  the  work  was  due  to  laymen.     "  The  New  York 


88  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Sunday-School  Union  "  having  been  formed  in  February,  1816,  one 
of  the  members  of  the  parish  called  on  the  Rector,  Doctor  Kewley, 
and  asked  if  it  would  not  be  well  to  start  a  Sunday-school  in  St. 
George's  parish.  His  reply  was,  "  I  shall  have  nothing  to  do  with 
it;  you  can  do  as  you  please."  So  without  pastoral  encouragement 
this  young  man,  Jeremiah  H.  Taylor,  who  later  became  a  member 
of  the  Vestry,  enlisted  the  co-operation  of  George  P.  Shipman, 
Robert  C.  Barfe,  and  Frederick  W.  Porter.  A  room  was  rented 
in  Gold  Street,  the  neighborhood  visited,  and  a  Sunday-school  forth- 
with commenced.  In  a  few  weeks  they  had  enlisted  a  number  of 
teachers  and  gathered  in  sixty  children.  More  room  was  soon  needed 
for  the  prayer-meeting  which  had  been  inaugurated  in  connection 
with  the  Sunday-school,  and  through  Mr.  Taylor  another  room  was 
secured  in  the  warehouse  of  his  employers  and  furnished  by  the 
men  of  St.  George 's.  A  wealthy  acquaintance  of  his  came  along  one 
day,  who  inquired  what  M'as  going  on  in  the  building  and  was  told 
that  every  Friday  evening  a  party  was  held  to  which  he  was  in- 
vited. On  the  following  Friday  he  came  dressed  for  a  party  and 
found  a  prayer-meeting.  At  the  close  he  said,  "  You  have  caught 
me  with  guile,"  but  acknowledged  that  he  had  been  much  edified 
and  asked  that  he  might  come  again.  This  man  became  a  vestryman 
of  St.  George's  (1827-1829),  subsequently  studied  for  the  sacred 
ministry,  and  was  sent  as  one  of  our  first  missionaries  to  Greece, 
where  he  did  remarkable  work  not  only  as  a  missionary,  but  also  as 
a  teacher.     His  name  was  John  H.  Hill. 

Some  of  the  ladies  of  the  Church  also  were  desirous  of  engaging 
in  Sunday-school  work,  and  in  a  school-room  in  John  Street,  April, 
1816,  eight  of  them  met  to  appoint  officers  and  outline  the  work. 
The  neighborhood  was  visited,  the  school  increased  in  numbers  and 
interest,  and  it  soon  became  necessary  to  remove  it  into  the  church. 
Thus  there  were  established  by  lay  effort  two  Sunday-schools  and 
two  weekly  prayer-meetings  in  connection  with  them  during  the 
time  of  a  Rector  who  would  ' '  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. ' '  Mean- 
while the  male  Sunday-school  had  so  increased  that  a  larger  room 
had  to  be  procured.  Such  a  room  was  found  in  Cherry  Street  near 
the  site  of  what  was  called  "  the  old  sink  of  iniquity  "  at  Banker 
Street  and  Neilson  Alley.  It  was  an  undesirable  neighborhood,  but 
children  abounded  there.  The  increasing  need  of  accommodation 
for  this  school,  and  the  inconvenience  to  which  the  ladies  were  sub- 
jected in  holding  a  female  Sunday-school  in  the  church  building, 
led  the  new  Rector  in  the  spring,  after  entering  upon  his  duties,  to 
present  the  case  to  the  Vestry,  which  promptly  appointed  a  com- 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  89 

mittee  to  consider  the  subject  of  "  a  building  for  the  better  ac- 
commodation of  the  Sunday-schools  and  for  congregational  pur- 
poses." The  committee  reported  favorably,  and  the  Vestry  au- 
thorized the  committee  to  proceed  at  once  in  the  erection  of  a  proper 
building  in  the  rear  of  the  church  "  twenty-two  and  one-half  feet 
front  by  fifty  feet  deep  or  of  such  other  dimensions  as  the  com- 
mittee may  deem  more  convenient."  The  work  progressed  during 
the  summer  of  1817  and  by  October  the  building  was  completed 
and  ready  for  use.  The  upper  room  was  appropriated  to  the  use 
of  the  female  Sunday-school  and  such  congregational  purposes  as 
were  authorized  by  the  Rector,  and  the  lower  room  was  designated 
for  the  use  of  the  male  Sunday-school.  "  In  these  rooms  some  of 
Doctor  Milnor's  best  labors  were  performed  and  many  of  his  best 
fruits  gathered."  i 

The  formal  opening  took  place  on  Sunday,  November  19,  1817. 
At  the  hour  appointed  the  Vestry  of  the  parish,  the  officers  of  the 
New  York  Sunday-school  Union,  the  superintendents,  teachers,  and 
children  of  the  parochial  schools,  and  a  number  of  interested  visitors 
assembled  in  the  upper  room,  where  after  appropriate  prayers  a 
short  address  was  delivered  by  the  Rector  and  a  suitable  hymn  sung 
by  the  children.  They  then  proceeded  to  the  church,  where  a  large 
congregation  were  in  waiting,  and  where,  after  a  suitable  service 
conducted  by  the  Rector,  he  delivered  an  interesting  aad  impressive 
address.  A  hymn  was  sung  responsively  by  the  congregation  and 
the  children,  and  the  benediction  concluded  this  memorable  in- 
auguration of  facilities  for  the  Sunday  -  school  and  lecture  -  room 
work  which  proved  abundantly  fruitful  in  spiritual  blessing  to  the 
people  of  all  ages. 

These  schools  of  St.  George's  had  been  organized  as  No.  6  and 
No.  10  in  connection  with  the  New  York  Sunday-school  Union,  a 
society  composed  of  Christians  of  various  names.  When  the  New 
York  Protestant  Episcopal  Sunday-school  Society  came  into  being, 
the  laymen  in  charge  of  St.  George's  Sunday-schools  were  urged 
to  disconnect  themselves  with  the  earlier  organization  and  join  the 
distinctively  Episcopal  Society.  The  answer  given  was,  "  We  em- 
barked on  board  the  Union  Ship,  and  unless  she  is  shipwrecked  we 
shall  continue  to  sail  under  her  flag."  This  continued  relation 
of  St.  George's  Sunday-schools  to  the  Union  Society  was  extremely 
distasteful  to  that  growing  high  church  party  which,  under  the 
leadership  of  Bishop  Hobart,  was  yearly  becoming  more  aggressive 
and  assertive;  and  a  critical  vigilance  to  detect  any  ground  of 
censure  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Rector  of  St.  George's  was  un- 


90  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

pleasantly  apparent.  It  was  widely  rumored  that  he  had  been 
guilty  of  some  gross  irregularity  on  the  occasion  above  described, 
to  which  a  Philadelphia  friend  makes  reference  in  a  letter  thus: 
*'  I  must  by  the  way  just  let  you  know  that  the  hints  and  insinua- 
tions and  innuendoes,  which  passed  pretty  freely  among  certain 
individuals,  and  those  not  a  few,  relative  to  your  omission  of  the 
Church  service  on  the  occasion  of  your  late  Sunday-school  meeting, 
when  you  delivered  your  address,  have  all  recoiled  on  their  own 
heads;  and  it  has  been  pretty  satisfactorily  proven,  to  the  regret, 
I  fear,  of  some,  that  you  are  yet  a  regular  man." 

Another  Sunday-school,  known  as  No.  34,  was  organized  by  laymen 
of  St.  George 's  in  this  same  month  for  the  instruction  of  colored  men, 
which  shortly  numbered  nine  teachers,  five  assistants,  and  seventy- 
four  scholars.  Circumstances  having  required  the  removal  of  this 
school  from  its  first  location,  the  Society  of  Friends,  which  took  a 
special  interest  in  work  among  the  colored  people,  granted  the  free 
use  of  their  large  rooms  in  Rose  Street.  It  is  noted  in  the  records  of 
the  school,  which  were  carefully  kept : 

The  Rev.  Doctor  Milnor  visited  the  school  this  afternoon  with  several 
gentlemen  and  distributed  Bibles,  testaments,  and  hymn-books  as  rewards 
for  committing  Scriptures  to  memory.  He  then  delivered  an  affecting 
address.  Oh,  that  ministers  would  follow  his  example!  Surely  our  hearts 
ought  to  rejoice  that  he  takes  such  an  interest  in  Sunday-schools.  The  Lord 
gTant  that  his  exhortations  may  be  sanctified  to  the  salvation  of  many  souls. 

After  having  experienced  another  removal  this  school,  about  1824, 
after  the  erection  of  the  public  school  in  Duane  Street,  was  granted 
the  use  of  several  rooms  therein;  and  with  an  enlarged  scope,  ex- 
cluding no  age,  sect,  or  color  and  welcoming  Christian  workers  of 
any  name,  continued  for  many  years  a  career  of  signal  usefulness. 
In  one  memorable  year  ninety  persons  connected  with  it  made 
public  confession  of  their  faith  in  Christ. 

Another  school  was  organized  for  white  adults,  so  that  in  January, 
1820,  four  schools  were  reported  with  sixty  teachers  and  four  hun- 
dred and  seventy-four  scholars.  Others  were  organized  later,  in- 
cluding one  for  colored  women  and  girls  and  one  for  colored  boys, 
both  of  which  in  1824  were  merged  into  the  Duane  Street  school. 
It  was  the  custom  for  the  superintendents  and  Sunday-school  workers 
to  hold  a  weekly  meeting  for  prayer  and  instruction  in  the  Sunday- 
school  lessons.  When  the  superintendent  examined  the  school  pub- 
licly at  the  close  of  the  session  on  Sunday,  it  was  the  rule  that  if 
the  scholars  could  not  answer  the  questions  the  teachers  should  do 
so.  The  parochial  schools  had  two  sessions  on  Sunday,  from  half 
past  eight  to  ten  and  from  one  to  two-thirty.     There  were  prayer- 


THE    MTLNOR     PERIOD  91 

meetings  statedly  held  in  private  houses  and  later  in  the  lecture- 
room  carried  on  by  the  zealous  lay-workers,  at  which,  however,  the 
Rector  was  sometimes  present  and  which  proved  to  be  an  effective 
instrumentality  in  awakening  religious  interest  and  in  building  up 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  parish.  But  he  nevertheless  withheld  his 
approbation  from  some  of  the  methods  of  the  revival  system  which 
certain  of  his  earnest  parishioners  were  intent  to  employ,  although 
regretfully  loath  to  discourage  efforts  which  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
apparently  blessing  to  the  conversion  of  souls.  Taking  more  per- 
sonal direction  of  the  work,  it  gradually  assumed  the  form  of  a 
lecture  on  Tuesday  evenings,  opened  with  forms  from  the  Prayer- 
Book  and  usually  closed  with  extemporaneous  prayer.  This  was  in 
addition  to  the  one  accustomed  to  be  held  by  the  Rector  on  Friday 
evenings.  The  hearts  of  the  people  were  with  him  and  the  divine 
blessing  made  his  ample  labors  fruitful,  and  no  small  part  of  the 
spiritual  results  of  his  efficient  ministry  were  directly  traceable 
to  his  inspiring  and  helpful  utterances  in  the  lecture-room  of  old 
St.  George's. 

The  organ  which  was  then  in  use  in  St.  George's  and  had  been 
placed  there  at  the  request  of  its  owner  was  purchased  by  the  Vestry 
in  December,  1817,  for  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars,  and  at 
the  same  time  steps  were  taken  looking  to  the  procurement  of  a  new 
and  larger  instrument.  But  nothing  was  actually  accomplished 
until  in  the  summer  of  1820  the  Rector  undertook  the  work  of 
raising  funds  for  the  purpose.  In  June,  1818,  the  Vestry  was  in- 
formed by  one  of  its  members  that  Thomas  H.  Smith  had  com- 
municated to  him  his  intention  to  import  and  present  to  the  Church 
a  bell  on  condition  that  the  Vestry  would  place  a  clock  in  the 
steeple.  Mr.  Smith's  munificent  offer  was  gratefully  accepted,  and 
the  thanks  of  the  Vestry  expressed  to  him,  and  a  committee  desig- 
nated to  take  immediate  steps  to  procure  a  clock. 

The  congregation  was  rapidly  growing  under  the  leadership  of 
the  Rev.  Doctor  Milnor.  His  duties-  were  many  both  in  and  out 
of  the  parish.  People  called  upon  him  constantly  for  advice  and 
help.  While  always  ready  to  be  of  service,  he  found  that  the  very 
inconvenient  situation  of  his  study,  on  the  third  floor  of  the  rectory, 
involved  considerable  loss  of  time  and  strength  in  receiving  his 
numerous  callers.  He  therefore  laid  the  following  communication 
before  the  Vestry  at  its  meeting,  July  13,  1818 : 

Gentlemen 

The  necessity  I  am  under  of  oceui^ying  a  room  in  the  third  storj^  of 
the  parsonage  for  my  study  subjects  me  to  very  great  inconvenience.     The 


92  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

numerous  calls  made  upon  me  at  those  hours,  which,  when  I  am  not  com- 
pelled to  be  abroad,  are  devoted  to  theological  pursuits  and  the  preparation 
of  discourses,  oblige  me  so  frequently  to  come  down  into  the  parlour  as  to 
cause  much  interruption  to  my  studies  and  unnecessary  consumption  of 
time.  At  the  same  time  I  am  aware  that  in  the  present  state  of  the  funds 
of  the  Church  I  ought  not  to  ask  of  the  Vestry  any  i>rocedure  for  my 
accommodation  that  will  either  call  for  the  present  expenditure  of  money 
or  subject  them  to  the  charge  of  interest.  The  plan  I  have  to  propose  will 
do  neither.  I  ask  of  you  gentlemen  the  privilege  of  putting  up  a  con- 
venient one-story  brick  building  adjacent  to  the  parsonage  (say,  25X20 
feet  in  size)  to  communicate  with  it  by  a  door  out  of  the  hall,  economy  to 
be  consulted  in  its  erection,  but  at  the  same  time  to  be  made  a  valuable 
and  commodious  improvement  of  the  property.  The  interest  of  the  sum  to 
be  expended  will  be  to  me  no  other  than  a  reasonable  rent,  and  therefore 
all  I  request  is  the  agreement  of  the  Vesti'y  that  at  my  death  or  whenever 
the  connection  between  them  and  me  may  be  otherwise  dissolved  the  prin- 
cipal sum  expended  should  be  refunded. 

If  the  proposed  measure,  however,  be  not  jDcrfectly  agreeable  I  beg  leave 
to  be  considered  as  relinquishing  on  my  part  any  wish  for  its  adoption. 
If  it  meet  your  approbation  I  would  be  glad  to  enter  speedilj^  on  its 
execution  under  any  restrictions  as  to  expense  &  conduct  which  you  may 
deem  expedient. 

I  am,  Gentlemen,  with  very  gTeat  respect. 

Your  oblig'd  Pastor  &  Obe't  Serv't, 

June  27th,  1818.  James  Milnor. 

The  Vestry  cordially  agreed  to  the  Rector's  proposal  to  build  the 
addition  to  the  parsonage  on  the  terms  specified  in  his  letter,  except 
that  when  '  the  principal  sum  expended '  is  refunded  to  him  interest  on 
the  same  be  allowed,  and  that  if  the  debt  of  the  Corporation  be  reduced 
to  a  sum  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars  before  the  dissolution  of  the 
connection  with  the  Rector,  then  the  said  '  principal  sum  expended '  &  the 
interest  on  the  same  be  refunded  without  dela5^ 

Mr.  Carow  and  Mr.  Walton  were  thereupon  appointed  a  committee 
to  give  the  Rector  any  aid  he  may  require  in  relation  to  the  pro- 
posed building. 

In  the  matter  of  the  new  bell  the  committee  on  that  subject 
reported  at  the  Vestry  meeting,  September  19,  1818,  that  they  had 
obtained  all  the  information  in  their  power  and  drawn  upon  an 
English  correspondent  the  enclosed  order  for  a  bell,  which  they 
desired  to  submit  to  Mr.  Smith  for  his  approbation  before  forward- 
ing the  same. 

New  York,  7  Sept.,  1818. 
Sir, 

As  a  committee  of  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church  we  have  been 
requested  by  Tho's  H.  Smith,  Esq.,  of  this  city  to  import  a  bell,  which  it 
is  his  intention  to  present  to  the  Church.  We  accordingly  request  you  will 
ship  to  our  address,  under  full  insurance  by  an  American  vessel  for  tliis 
port,  a  church  bell  in  eveiy  respect  of  the  best  quality,  with  necessary 


THE    BELL    PRESENTED    BY    THO:*iAS    H.    SMITH    KN       IS  is 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  93 

apparatus  for  hanging  and  using  it.  In  strength  and  size  it  is  desired  it  may 
be  suited  to  a  church  (such  as  St.  Stephen's,  Walbrook,  or  St.  Clement's 
in  the  Strand) ;  the  weight,  it  is  supposed,  will  be  from  eighteen  to  twenty- 
two  cwt.  Considering  we  already  have  an  inferior  bell  &  that  many 
bad  sounding  ones  are  made,  we  are  extremely  solicitous  to  have  satis- 
faction given  in  this  particular,  and  that  the  sound  be  clear,  full  and 
sonorous.  As  a  proper  mark  of  respect  to  the  munificent  donor  this  beli 
must  be  cast  with  the  following  words  and  figures  on  the  outside : 

PRESENTED    BY    THOMAS    H.    SMITH,    ESQ'R, 

TO 

THE   CORPORATION"   OF   ST.   GEORGE's   CHURCH,   NEW   YORK, 

1818. 

We  are  led  to  believe  that  the  most  approved  bells  are  made  by  Joseph 
Mears  of  White  Chapel,  and  in  the  material  points  of  somid  and  strength 
the  best  we  have  seen  and  heard  are  of  his  make.  It  may  be  useful  to 
mention  that  the  sound  of  the  largest  bell  of  a  ring  of  eight  made  by  him 
for  Trinit}'  Church  in  this  city  is  approved  &  we  shall  be  satisfied  if  we 
succeed  in  obtaining  one  good  in  other  respects  and  of  a  sound  equally 
grand  and  sonorous. 

Having  described  the  article  we  want  in  a  manner  as  we  hope  the  maker 
will  clearly  underetand,  we  have  no  doubt  we  may  rely  upon  you  for  even 
more  care  and  attention  to  this  matter  than  is  called  for  in  an  ordinary' 
affair  of  business. 

Inclosed  j'Ou  have  a  bill  of  exchange  dated  New  York,  4th  Sept.,  1818, 
drawn  by  J.  &  C.  Betton  at  sixty  days'  sight  in  favor  of  Tho's  H.  Smith,  by 
whom  it  is  endorsed,  on  Joseph  Hilberson  &  Co.,  of  Liverpool,  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling,  payable  in  London. 

Respectfully,  &e., 

Isaac  Carow, 
Edmund  Morewood, 

Committee. 

The  bell  thus  presented  by  Mr.  Smith,  which  in  due  time  ar- 
rived, hung  for  many  years  in  the  old  church  in  Beekman  Street 
and  afterward  in  the  chapel  on  Fourteenth  Street.  It  was  removed 
to  its  present  site  in  front  of  the  rectory  on  Sixteenth  Street  in 
1905.  The  following  action  of  the  Vestry,  May  27,  1819,  ordered 
to  be  communicated  to  the  sexton  by  the  clerk  has  obvious  point 
in  this  connection : 

It  having  been  represented  that  the  old  bell  had  been  cracked  by  im- 
proper management  in  the  ringing,  and  that  the  person  employed  to  ring 
the  bell  had  permitted  and  encouraged  others,  being  unskilful,  to  do  im- 
perfectly what  was  his  duty  to  do  perfectly,  resolved  that  the  sexton  be 
and  is  thereby  directed  to  see  that  the  bell  be  not  rung  or  sounded  by  any 
but  the  person  employed  and  paid  for  performing  that  sen-ice. 

The  committee  for  procuring  a  clock  for  the  tower  of  the  church 
reported,  March  23,  1820,  that  the  clock  was  completely  set  up  and 
presented  a  certificate  from  local  clock-makers  which  read  as  follows ; 


94  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

We  have  examined  the  contract  entered  into  between  the  Rector,  wardens, 
and  vestrj'men  of  St.  George's  Church  in  tliis  city  and  S.  Willard,  of 
Roxbury,  for  a  good  turret  clock.  We  have  examined  the  same  with  at- 
tention and  beg  leave  to  say  that  the  clock  is  complete  in  every  j)articular 
and  that  it  is  well  and  solidly  made  and  in  the  best  manner  and  of  the 
best  materials  and  workmanship  and  is  in  eveiy  respect  in  conformity  with 
his  contract  and  explanation. 

Thomas  Richards, 

New  York,  March  1,  '20.  James  Ladd. 

The  treasurer  was  thereupon  directed  to  pay  nine  hundred  dol 
lars  for  the  clock  and  one  hundred  dollars  for  extra  work. 

In  writing  the  following  letter  the  Rector  evinced  his  practical 
concern  for  the  accommodation  of  the  children  in  the  church,  but 
at  the  same  time  to  do  away  with  the  annoyance  which  their  behavior 
at  times  had  evidently  occasioned  to  the  congregation : 

Parsonage  St.  George's,  13  April,  1820. 
Church  Wardens  &   Vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church. 
Gentlemen 

Understanding  that  it  is  the  design  of  the  Corporation  to  have  the 
church  cleaned  and  painted  during  the  ensuing  summer,  I  beg  leave  to 
suggest  to  you  the  propriety  of  erecting,  at  tlie  west  end  of  the  church, 
two  galleries,  one  on  each  side  of  the  organ  loft,  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  Sunday-school  children,  such  as  have  been  erected  in  St.  Paul's. 

I  have  understood  from  the  gentlemen  who  had  the  supei'intendence 
of  the  repairs,  &c.,  of  St.  Paul's  that  the  galleries  referred  to  cost  some- 
thing over  four  hundred  dollars. 

With  a  view  to  an  object  which  I  consider  of  importance,  both  as  it 
respects  the  children  of  the  Sunday-schools  &  their  interference  with  the 
worship  of  the  Church,  I  beg  leave  to  relinquish  five  hundred  dollars  of 
my  donation  &  salary  for  the  present  year  to  be  applied  to  the  object 
just  mentioned  and  other  improvements  connected  therewith. 

I  am  veiy  resi)ectfully 

Your  affee  Pastor  &  oblig'd  serv't 

James  Milnor. 

The  Vestry  accepted  the  Rector's  liberal  offer  and  contracted  for 
the  erection  of  the  Sunday-school  galleries  at  an  outlay  of  three 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars. 

The  Rector  made  a  verbal  communication,  stating  that  some  of 
the  congregation  friendly  to  the  late  Rev.  James  Wallis  Eastburn 
contemplated  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  his  memory  and  re- 
quested permission  of  the  Vestry  to  have  the  same  placed  in  the 
Church.  The  request  was  granted,  the  location  to  be  designated  by 
the  committee  on  pews  and  repairs.  Mr.  Eastburn  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  St.  George's  Church  and  enrolled  as  a  communicant  at  Christ- 


THE    MILNOR     PERIOD  95 

mas,  1816.  He  was  a  worker  in  the  Sunday-schools  and  in  the 
prayer-meetings  and  later  studied  for  the  sacred  ministry.  Al- 
most immediately  after  his  ordination  by  Bishop  Hobart,  October 
20,  1818,  he  became  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church,  Accomack,  Vir- 
ginia ;  but  after  a  very  brief  period  in  which  he  profitably  exercised 
"  his  fine  talents  and  attainments  "  he  died  of  consumption,  De- 
cember 2,  1819.  His  Diocesan,  Bishop  Meade  of  Virginia,  speaks 
of  him  as  a  "  most  interesting  and  talented  young  man."  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  composed  the  beautiful  Trinity  hymn  No.  77 
in  the  Prayer-Book  collection,  ' '  Oh,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy  Lord ! ' '  which 
is  retained  as  No.  137  in  our  present  hymnal. 

At  several  meetings  of  the  Vestry  the  matter  of  having  a  com- 
plete schedule  prepared  of  the  real  estate  of  the  Corporation,  of 
seeing  that  all  deeds  had  been  recorded  and  of  having  the  property 
surveyed  and  maps  made  for  the  use  and  information  of  the  Vestry, 
was  considered.  It  was  also  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Vestry 
that  the  deed  for  a  portion  of  the  property  assigned  to  St.  George's 
by  Trinity  Church  had  not  yet  been  delivered,  which,  however,  was 
reported,  November  18,  1820,  to  have  been  received  and  deposited 
with  the  treasurer.  A  list  of  the  real  estate  showing  the  annual 
revenue  of  the  Corporation  and  when  payable  is  given  in  the  fol- 
lowing statement  prepared  by  the  treasurer  and  dated  June  7,  1820. 
The  total  income  for  the  year  is  also  given.  As  against  this  in- 
come the  annual  expenses  were  as  follows:  Rector's  salary  and 
donation,  .$3,000;  clerk,  $250;  organist,  $160;  sexton,  $150;  bell- 
ringer,  $30;  bellows-blower,  $25. — Total  salaries,  $3,615.  Fire  in- 
surance. Church  and  Rector's  house,  $106.25;  taxes  on  Rector's 
house  and  schoolhouse,  $66.36 ;  Mrs.  Wiley  washing  surplices,  $17.50 ; 
sexton's  account  for  candles,  fuel,  etc.,  estimated,  $400.  Interest 
on  the  following  bonds:  To  Mrs.  Armour  on  $1,933.34  (principal), 
$135.33;  to  Nicholas  Anderson  on  $2,000  (principal),  $140;  to 
Joshua  Jones  on  $1,500  (principal),  $105;  to  Rev.  James  Milnor 
on  $3,680.44  (principal),  $257.63,  making  the  total  expenditure 
$4,843.07.  Amount  of  surplus  for  one  year  if  rents  should  all  be 
collected,  $1,498.42. 

At  the  Vestry  meeting  of  July  13,  1820,  the  Rector  presented  the 
following  communication : 
To  the  Corporation  of  St.  George's  Church. 
Gentlemen 

With  a  view  of  ascertaining  how  far  the  congTegation  of  St.  George's 
might  be  disposed  to  contribute  towards  the  purchase  of  an  organ,  I 
opened  on  the  28th  of  the  last  month,  a  subscription  for  that  purpose, 
and  made  pei'sonal  application  to  as  many  as  I  presumed  were  of  com- 


96 


HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


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98  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

petent  means,  and  as  my  leisure  allowed  me  to  call  on.  With  veiy  few 
exceptions,  the  persons  to  whom  the  object  was  jjresented  promptly  & 
cheerfully  contributed  what  they  could  con\eniently  spare.  I  have  now 
the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  the  sums  subscribed  up  to  the  present 
time  by  eighty-five  individuals  amount  to  $1,846,  of  which  $1,551  dollars 
have  been  j^aid  into  my  hands — of  tliis  latter  amount  so  much  as  was  paid 
anterior  to  Saturday  the  8th  inst.,  viz.,  the  sum  of  $1,163  has  been  de- 
posited in  the  savings-bank  of  this  city,  stating  it  to  be  "  on  account  of 
contributions  collected  for  the  purchase  of  an  organ  for  St.  George's 
Church  in  New  York."  The  sums  collected  since  the  last  deposit  with 
such  as  may  be  hereafter  i-eceived  will  be  deposited  m  the  same  place  of 
security  and  the  whole  remain  subject  to  your  disposal.  As  some  gentle- 
men are  at  jDresent  absent  from  the  city  who  will  probably  contribute, 
others  have  promised  but  not  yet  determined  the  amount  they  intend  to 
subscribe,  and  several  have  not  yet  been  ap])lied  to,  who  it  is  believed  are 
able  and  willing  to  give,  my  present  calculation  is  that  the  subscription 
before  it  is  finally  closed  will  amount  to  two  thousand  dollars. 

Any  measures,  therefore,  that  the  Vestry  may  think  proper  to  take 
in  relation  to  the  procuring  of  an  organ  may,  I  tliink,  include  a  dej^end- 
enee  on  the  last-mentioned  sum  as  the  result  of  my  endeavors  in  the 
solicitation  of  individual  co-operation  in  tliis  attempt  to  add  to  the  beauty 
of  the  Church  and  the  solemnity  of  public  worsliip. 

As  this  successful  appeal  to  the  liberality  of  the  congregation  conclusive- 
ly evinces  the  fact,  which  I  have  long  known,  that  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  attendants  at  our  Church  are  favorable  to  the  object  it  con- 
templates, I  have  little  doubt  that  by  semi-annual  collections  in  Church, 
the  balance  of  what  is  requisite  for  the  purpose  may  in  a  few  years  be 
raised,  and  in  this  way  any  entrenchment  on  the  regular  resources  of  the 
Corporation  be  avoided. 

I  am,   Gentlemen,  very  respectfully  &  truly 

Your  faithful  &  obe'd   serv't, 

James  Milnor. 

Parsonage  St.  George's,  July  IS,  1820. 

The  foregoing  letter  was  favorably  received,  and  the  Rector,  Mr. 
Carow  and  Doctor  Cooper,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  procure 
an  organ.  At  the  next  meeting,  August  10,  1820,  the  Rector  re- 
ported that  having  made  further  collections,  the  amount  applicable 
to  the  purchase  of  an  organ  up  to  this  time  was  $1,906.  The  com- 
mittee was  thereupon  authorized  to  contract  with  Thomas  Hall, 
organ-builder,  to  construct  an  organ  for  St.  George's  Church  at 
a  price  not  exceeding  $3,000  and  to  dispose  of  the  old  organ.  The 
committee  reported,  October  12,  1820,  that  the  organ  fund  now 
amounted  to  $1,991  and  that  they  had  contracted  with  Mr.  Hall 

to  construct  an  organ  of  the  best  materials  containing  twenty-one  stops 
and  three  sets  of  keys  particularly  described  in  the  contract;  the  case 
of  mahogany  fourteen  feet  wide,  eight  feet  deej),  and  twenty-four  feet 
high,  with  the  front  pipes  gilt;  to  be  finished  in  an  improved  manner  and 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  99 

put  lip  in  the  Church  fit  for  use  within  nine  months  from  the  24th  of 
August  last,  when  he  is  to  receive  for  the  same  three  thousand  dollars. 

The  new  organ,  however,  was  not  completed  as  promptly  as  had 
been  promised  by  the  contractor,  and  it  was  not  until  February, 
1822,  that  it  was  reported  as  having  been  completed,  A  certificate 
from  Messrs,  George  Geib  and  H,  Westervelt,  organists,  highly 
commendatory  of  the  new  organ  was  presented  to  the  Vestry ;  where- 
upon the  treasurer  was  directed  to  pay  to  Mr.  Hall  the  amount  of 
his  contract.  The  superseded  organ  was  sold  for  $250  to  Trinity 
Church,  Utica, 

Doctor  Milnor's  labors  in  the  pulpit,  since  he  became  Rector  of 
St.  George's,  had  been  unceasing  and  arduous,  save  that  from 
August  27th  to  September  17,  1820,  four  Sundays,  he  was  con- 
fined to  his  house  by  a  painful  disease  described  as  an  abscess.  He 
had  built  up  a  large  and  enthusiastic  congregation,  had  increased 
the  seating  capacity  of  the  church  by  the  addition  of  two  galleries 
and  two  large  pews  on  the  ground  floor,  had  erected  a  commodious 
Sunday-school  building  in  the  rear  of  the  church  for  the  better  ac- 
commodation of  that  rapidly  growing  work  and  other  purposes,  had 
secured  an  addition  to  the  parsonage  house,  had  caused  a  turret 
clock  to  be  placed  in  the  cupola  of  the  church  in  accordance  with  the 
conditions  of  Mr.  Smith's  munificent  gift  of  a  bell,  and  had  now 
provided  for  an  adequate  and  handsome  organ. 

Doctor  Milnor's  own  view  of  the  situation  appears  in  a  letter 
to  his  friend.  Rev.  C.  P.  Mellvaine,  under  date  April  9,  1821 : 

Since  last  fall  I  have  had  two  lectures  in  the  week,  besides  my  services 
on  Sundaj';  catechetical  exercises;  superintendence  of  five  Smiday-schools; 
various  agencies  in  public  institutions;  and  from  my  i^^culiar  situation 
here,  a  greater  amount  of  jiarochial  and  extra  duty  than  usually  falls  to 
the  lot  of  a  single  presbyter.  I  do  not  mention  these  things  boastingly. 
Alas!  I  am  afflictingly  sensible  how  little  I  do  for  Him  who  has  done  so 
much  for  me,  A  better  qualified  man  would,  no  doubt,  with  much  greater 
facility  get  through  such  a  course  of  duty  as  that  in  which  I  am  engaged. 
But  for  me.  the  situation  which  I  fill  is  an  arduous  one,  and  requires  my 
unremitted  and  laborious  attention  to  go  thi'ough  its  exactions  with  any 
tolerable  satisfaction  to  my  own  mind. 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  more  favorable  accounts  than  I  honestly  can 
of  the  state  of  spiritual  thing-s  amongst  us.  Lukewarmness  and  formality, 
error  in  doctrine  and  latitudinarianism  in  practice,  deform,  in  a  gi'eater 
or  less  degree,  all  our  churches.  In  all  of  them  are  to  be  found  a  few  who 
have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal;  but  I  am  afraid  our  city,  large  as  it  is^ 
would  not,  out  of  the  Episcopal  churches,  furnish  the  pro]ihet's  number. 
In  St.  George's  we  continue  to  have  a  goodly  number  of  devoted,  praying 


100  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

people;  our  Sunday-scliools  are  flourishing;  and  every  season  of  Com- 
munion exhibits  some  addition  to  tlie  number  of  Christ's  true  disciples. 
The  cong-regation  have  now,  for  near  five  years,  been  proof  against  every 
attempt  to  sow  dissension  among  them;  and  those  who  have  not  experi- 
mentally felt  its  power  are  still  willing  to  hear  the  truth.  But  what  cause 
of  grief  is  it  to  any  minister,  whose  heart's  desire  and  prayer  is  the  salva- 
tion of  his  peofde,  to  see  so  many,  young  and  old,  still  strangers  to  a 
crucified  Saviour;  still  living  to  the  world;  still  unmindful  of  the  interests 
of  their  never-dying  souls.  It  is  a  gi'ound  of  unspeakable  gratitude  that 
any  should,  through  the  divine  blessing  on  our  labors,  be  plucked  as  brands 
from  the, burning;  but  when  we  are  filled  with  a  sense  of  the  value  of  the 
souls  committed  to  our  charge,  how  feelingly  alive  should  we  be  to  the 
consideration  of  the  immense  danger  to  ourselves,  if  one  be  lost  through 
our  negligence  or  remissness !  God  grant,  my  endeared  fellow-laborer, 
that  neither  you  nor  I  may  be  the  subject  of  this  awful  guilt. 

The  same  letter  incidentally  alludes  to  him  who  was  destined  to 
be  his  successor : 

I  am  happy  now  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  reciprocate  your  kindness 

in  making  known  to  me  your  friend,  Mr.  R ,  by  presenting  to  you  one 

of  mine,  the  Rev.  Mi'.  Tyng,  a  recent  pupil  of  Bishop  Griswold,  who  is 
anxious  to  be  employed  without  delay  in  the  work  of  an  evangelist.  He 
is  a  young  gentleman  of  good  talents  and  acquirements;  of  personal  piety 
and  agreeable  manners;  of  decidedly  evangelical  views;  a  moderate  church- 
man, who  loves  his  own  communion,  but  does  not  exclude  from  his  af- 
fections any  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,  and  a  pleasing 
speaker.  I  am  persuaded  that  Mr.  Tyng's  heart  is  so  much  in  the  work 
as  to  promise  great  success  to  his  exertions. 

Within  his  parish  the  stream  of  Doctor  Milnor's  ministerial  life 
ran  equably  and  smoothly.  The  hearts  of  his  people  were  with 
him  from  the  first,  and  the  sincerity  and  assiduity  of  his  labors 
among  them  commended  him  more  and  more  as  the  years  rolled  on 
to  their  esteem  and  affection.  But  outside  of  the  parish  his  course 
was  viewed  by  many  with  suspicion  and  disapproval.  The  two 
special  points  of  criticism  were  his  clearly  defined  attitude  as  to 
co-operation  with  other  Christians  in  support  of  the  American  Bible 
Society  and  the  American  Tract  Society  and  his  use  of  extemporane- 
ous prayer  after  his  weekly  lectures  and  his  countenancing  prayer- 
meetings  among  his  parishioners.  The  Rector  did  not  alwaj^s  attend 
these  meetings,  and  on  one  occasion  while  in  his  study  Bishop 
Hobart  called  and  asked  him  to  go  over  to  the  meeting  then  in 
session  and  dismiss  those  in  attendance.  It  is  reported  that  the 
Rector's  answer  was  substantially,  "  Bishop,  I  dare  not  prevent  my 
parishioners  from  meeting  for  prayer,  but  if  you  are  willing  to  take 
the  responsibility  of  dismissing  them  you  have  my  permission." 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  101 

There  was,  however,  no  Episcopal  intrusion  and  the  extemporary 
prayers  went  on.  Mildly  but  firmly  Doctor  Milnor  adhered  to  what 
he  felt  was  right  for  him  to  do,  reflecting  upon  none  who  chose  a 
different  course ;  but  satisfied  that  his  own  sense  of  duty  must  guide 
his  conduct,  he  felt  constrained  to  allow  neither  reproaches  nor 
ostracism  to  swerve  him  from  his  course.  His  inflexible  position  in 
these  matters  he  voiced  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  which,  after  re- 
ferring to  the  bitterness  and  opposition  which  were  being  manifested 
toward  him,  he  says : 

But  if  much  mofe  senous  consequences  than  I  have  occasion  to  appre- 
hend were  to  follow  my  adherence  to  that  ministerial  course,  which  the 
finger  of  God  marked  out  for  me  at  its  beginning,  and  to  which,  by  divine 
grace,  I  have  been  enabled  hitherto  to  keep,  I  trust  nothing  would  terrify 
or  allure  me  from  it;  unless,  which  maj'  God  prevent,  I  should  merit  the 
withdrawing  of  those  influences  from  above,  which  alone  can  enable  any 
of  us  to  persevere  to  the  end. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Vestry,  September  13,  1821,  the  clerk  re- 
ported that  the  trunk  containing  the  book  of  records,  various  docu- 
ments, including  the  revised  code  of  by-laws  and  the  seal  of  the  Cor- 
poration, were  stolen  from  his  house  on  the  2d  ult. ;  that  he  for- 
tunately had  recovered  the  book  of  records  and  most  of  the  documents 
and  papers  of  value,  but  regretted  to  state  that  the  trunk  had  been 
destroj^ed,  the  seal  lost,  and  such  injury  done  to  the  book  of  records 
as  to  make  rebinding  necessary.  The  clerk  was  directed  to  pro- 
cure a  new  seal  to  exactly  correspond  with  the  one  that  had  been 
lost. 

As  an  indication  of  the  readiness  of  St.  George's  to  respond  to 
appeals  for  worthy  outside  objects,  it  may  be  noted  that  in  March, 
1821,  a  collection  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  the  city  had  been 
made  in  St.  George's  amounting  to  $190.19,  but  later  it  was  re- 
turned to  the  treasurer  of  the  parish  in  compliance  with  a  resolu- 
tion of  the  committee  of  citizens:  "  That  the  moneys  be  returned 
to  the  several  churches  in  consequence  of  the  favorable  change  of 
weather  which  rendered  it  inexpedient  to  appropriate  the  same  as 
was  contemplated  when  the  request  from  his  Honor  the  Mayor  was 
made."  The  sum  was  handed  over  to  the  Rector  for  the  charity 
fund.  In  1825,  $123.34  was  given  by  the  parish  for  the  sufferers 
by  a  fire  in  Spring  Street;  and  at  a  later  date,  March  15,  1838,  the 
Rector  presented  a  letter  from  the  Mayor,  as  chairman  of  the  central 
committee  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  in  the  city,  acknowledging  the 
receipt  of  $121.88  as  a  contribution  of  the  parish  for  this  purpose. 

A  project  for  widening  Cliff  Street  having  been  brought  before 


102  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

the  Vestry  in  March,  1822,  a  committee  was  appointed  "  to  memo- 
rialize the  Honorable  the  Corporation  of  the  City  in  opposition  to 
any  application  that  may  he  offered  to  that  Body  for  that  purpose." 
Two  years  later  the  project  was  renewed  with  the  further  intent 
of  extending  Cliff  Street  to  Frankfort  Street ;  whereupon  the  Vestry 
memorialized  the  Corporation  "  that  if  they  shall  think  proper  to 
sanction  the  application  for  widening  Cliff'  Street  they  will  do  it 
with  an  express  declaration  that  no  part  of  the  Church  property 
shall  he  infringed  upon,"  assurances  having  been  given  by  the 
proponents  of  the  measure  that  the  needed  land  should  be  taken 
from  the  opposite  or  easterly  side  of  the  street.  In  the  following 
year,  March,  1825,  the  Vestry  having  become  satisfied  that  the 
pending  proposition  as  framed  would  be  injurious  to  the  property 
of  the  Church,  appointed  a  committee  who  appeared  to  have  made 
successful  opposition  thereto.  But  again,  in  1833,  the  Vestry  found 
itself  obliged  to  take  a  stand  against  a  new  attempt  to  widen  Cliff 
Street  in  a  way  "  which  would  lead  to  the  destruction  of  the 
lecture-room  and  a  considerable  number  of  vaults  and  to  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  remains  of  many  old  members  of  this  Church." 
They  felt  themselves  "  bound  to  oppose  the  execution  of  the  plan 
by  every  legal  means  in  their  power,"  and  their  committee,  con- 
sisting of  Messrs.  Van  Wagenen,  Bloodgood,  Stearns,  and  "Woolley, 
made  such  vigorous  remonstrance,  with  the  co-operation  of  a  large 
proportion  of  the  property-owners  interested,  that  they  had  the 
pleasure  of  reporting  to  the  Vestry  that  "  this  second  attempt  to 
disturb  the  quiet  possession  of  this  Vestry  in  their  vaults  and 
grounds  has  been  so  triumphantly  defeated  that  your  committee 
think  that  there  need  be  no  apprehension  of  its  being  soon  repeated. ' ' 
Twenty-three  years  later  Cliff  Street  was  widened  from  Beekman 
Street  to  Ferry  Street. 

During  the  summer  months  of  1822  the  Rector  made  out  a  list 
of  communicants  in  a  book  still  in  existence  in  good  preservation 
and  carefully  written.  The  entries  are  prefaced  by  the  following 
statement : 

Parson- AGE  of  St.  George's  Church,  August  6,  1822. 

No  offieial  list  of  the  communicants  of  St.  George's  Church  having  been 
kept  by  the  Rev.  Doctor  Kewley,  my  predecessor,  there  may  be  some 
omissions  of  those  who  were  communicants  jn-evions  to  the  10th  of  July, 
1816,  when  I  took  cliarg-e  of  the  Church,  and  in  most  instances  I  have  no 
knowledge  of  the  date  of  their  admission  as  such  of  those  whose  names  I 
have  obtained.  Since  the  commencement  of  my  duties  as  Rector,  a  regular 
account  has  been  ke])t  of  tlie  ])ersons  admitted  to  the  Communion,  and  I 
have  noted  and  shall  continue  to  note  with  as  much  accuracv  as  mv  in- 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  103 

formation  may  enable  me  the  time  and  manner  as  well  of  their  union, 
respectively,  with  the  Church  as  of  the  cessation  of  such  union  either  by 
death  or  otherwise,  that  a  cori'ect  report  may  be  annually  made,  according 
to  canon,  to  the  State  Convention. 

James  Milnor,  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church. 

The  Rector  communicated  to  the  Vestry,  January  11,  1823,  a 
proposal  that  he  should  visit  England  as  a  delegate  from  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society  to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  and 
asked  the  advice  and  concurrence  of  the  Vestry.  They  unanimously 
consented  to  the  proposed  absence,  provided  he  could  arrange  to 
secure  an  approved  and  regular  supply  for  the  services  of  the  Church 
until  his  return.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  he  informed  the  Vestry 
that  he  had  found  himself  unable  to  do  so  and  had  abandoned  the 
project.    The  plan,  however,  was  renewed  and  executed  in  May,  1830. 

There  appears,  however,  to  have  been  a  temporary  absence  of  the 
Rector  during  July  and  part  of  August  of  this  year  during  which 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Carter  officiated  in  the  Church  whose  services  were 
recompensed  by  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars. 

As  indicating  the  interest  of  the  Vestry  in  the  humbler  members 
of  the  congregation,  it  may  be  noted  that  in  January,  1823,  "  the 
committee  on  pews  was  requested  to  report  the  number  and  cir- 
cumstances of  the  occupants  of  the  pews  set  apart  by  the  Church  for 
the  accommodation  of  its  indigent  communicants." 

At  a  special  meeting,  July  3,  1824,  the  property  committee  was 
requested  to  obtain  plans  and  estimates  ' '  with  all  convenient  speed ' ' 
for  necessary  improvement  of  the  chancel,  for  building  a  vestry- 
room,  and  carpeting  the  female  Sunday-school  gallery.  The  con- 
tracts were  given  to  Andrew  "Woodruff  and  Martin  E.  Thompson, 
and  the  work  was  begun  toward  the  end  of  July.  To  meet  the 
expense  incurred,  the  property  committee  was  authorized  to  bor- 
row temporarily  three  thousand  dollars  at  a  rate  of  interest  not 
exceeding  five  per  cent.  While  this  work  was  going  forward  a 
petition  was  received  from  St.  Mary's  Church,  Manhattanville,  for 
a  donation  of  the  old  pulpit,  canopy,  and  reading-desk  of  St. 
George's,  which  were  cheerfully  placed  at  their  disposal,  and  the 
gift  was  by  them  gratefully  acknowledged. 

On  the  3d  of  January,  1825,  Doctor  Milnor  was  suddenly  seized 
in  the  street  with  an  attack  of  gout  in  the  chest.  Upon  being  con- 
veyed home  his  difficulty  of  breathing  increased,  his  symptoms 
were  of  the  most  alarming  character,  and  his  agony  was  intense; 
and  despite  the  unintermittiiig  and  skillful  medical  attention  which 


t 


104  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

was  lovingly  lavished  upon  him,  it  seemed  to  all  about  him  on  the 
Sunday  following  the  attack  that  his  end  was  imminent.  It  proved, 
however,  that  his  work  on  earth  was  not  yet  done,  for  while  the 
prayers  of  his  loving  parishioners  were  unitedly  and  importunately 
ascending  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  intervals  of  relief  from  the  vio- 
lent paroxyms  of  pain  were  accorded  him,  as  the  disease  shifted 
from  one  organ  to  another,  until  the  crisis  was  passed  and  his  slow 
recovery  begun.  It  was,  indeed,  reported  through  the  city  that 
his  decease  had  actually  occurred;  and  though  this  afflictive  intel- 
ligence was  soon  contradicted,  the  peril  through  which  he  had 
passed  served  to  manifest  in  a  most  convincing  way  "  the  depth 
and  strength  of  the  hold  which  he  had  obtained  upon  the  respect, 
the  love,  the  veneration  of  his  fellow-citizens."  Of  his  bearing 
during  his  awful  trial  his  physician.  Dr.  John  Stearns,  who  had 
attended  him  in  previous  suffering  with  the  gout,  which  had,  how- 
ever, before  only  attacked  his  feet,  bears  this  striking  testimony :   — 

So  violent  were  the  paroxysms,  and  so  short  the  intervals,  that,  upon 
every  succeeding  attack,  it  seemed  impossible  for  him  to  survive.  Con- 
scious that  every  breath  might  be  his  last,  he  improved  every  interval  of 
relief  in  expressing  his  resignation  and  his  reliance  upon  divine  grace. 
Never  did  I  hear  such  impressive  words  from  a  dying  man.  The  solemnity 
of  the  scene,  the  anguish  of  his  countenance,  now  and  then  yielding  to 
smiles,  an  index  to  the  peace  within,  like  the  occasional  brilliancy  of  the 
sun  shining  through  a  dark  cloud,  his  great  efforts  to  speak,  and  his  deep- 
toned  utterances,  made  impressions  never  to  be  effaced,  melted  every  heart, 
suffused  every  eye,  and  palsied  every  tongue.  The  solemn  silence  was 
never  broken,  save  when  he  spoke.  Often  and  impressively  did  he  bear 
witness  to  the  great  truths  which  he  had  preached,  and  often  and  fervently 
did  he  repeat  his  love  for  his  congregation.  Addressing  me,  he  said:  'Tell 
them  how  I  love  them;  and  that,  if  God  spare  my  life,  I  will  improve  it 
in  doing  more  good  than  I  have  done.  Tell  them,  also,  to  call  a  successor 
who  will  preach  the  same  evangelical  doctrines  which  I  have  preached, 
and  not  a  formalist.'  And  then  he  exclaimed :  '  0  my  precious  Jesus. 
How  I  love  my  God.  How  I  love  the  Son  of  His  love.  How  I  love  the 
Holy  Comforter.' 

(\  On  the  Sunday  when  his  death  was  momentarily  expected  it  was 
proposed  to  stop  the  ringing  of  his  church  bell,  but  he  murmured: 
' '  No,  no ;  let  it  ring  on.  To  me  there  is  no  sweeter  sound  on  earth. 
I  shall  soon  be  listening  to  the  harmonies  of  Heaven."  In  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  during  his  convalescence  to  his  friend,  the  Rev. 
Charles  P.  Mcllvaine,  afterward  Bishop  of  Ohio,  he  continued,  after 
referring  to  his  physical  condition  on  that  critical  Sunday : 

On  the  day  just  mentioned,  the  impression  of  all  around  me  was,  that 
a  few  moments  must  terminate  my  existence.     Such  was  my  own  per- 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  105 

suasion;  and,  blessed  be  God,  the  prospect  was  unaccompanied  by  the  least 
alarm.  There  was  given  me  not  only  a  spirit  of  calm  submission  and 
quiet  resignation  to  the  divine  will,  but  a  hope  full  of  immortality.  O 
how  precious  was  the  Saviour  to  my  rejoicing  soul  in  that  never-to-be- 
forgotten  hoiu-.  With  what  an  unshaken  faith,  as  a  helpless,  hell-deserving 
sinner,  was  I  enabled  to  rest  my  assurance  of  pardon  and  expectations  of 
approaching  glory  on  His  righteousness  and  blood.  Although  drenched 
with  medicines,  which,  under  other  circumstances,  would  not  only  have 
taken  away  my  reason,  but  been  destructive  of  life  itself,  yet  my  under- 
standing was  unimpaired,  and  my  speech  articulate  and  clear;  so  that  I 
was  permitted  to  bear  testimony  before  my  suiTounding  friends  to  the 
unspeakable  consolations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  the  unfailing  faithfulness 
of  God,  and  to  the  abundant  love  of  the  Redeemer,  of  all  which  I  had 
the  joyful  experience.  .  .  .  But  God  was  pleased  to  answer  the  prayers 
of  his  believing  people  and  to  spare  me,  perhaps,  for  some  further  use- 
fulness in  the  Church.  A  long  life  of  the  utmost  devotion  to  his  service, 
if  allowed  me,  will  very  inadequately  repay  the  manifestations  of  his 
loving-kindness,  with  which,  during  tliis  providential  visitation,  I  have  been 
favored.  \^ 

So  twenty  years  of  usefulness  were  added  to  their  valued  pastor's 
life,  for  indeed  his  work  was  not  yet  done.  In  sympathetic  con- 
sideration for  his  recent  and  severe  illness,  and  in  view  of  its  at- 
tendant expense,  the  Vestry  directed  that  a  gift  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  be  handed  to  the  rector.  The  treasurer  was  also  di- 
rected to  pay  fifty  dollars  to  the  P.  E.  City  Mission  Society  in  order 
to  constitute  the  rector  a  member  thereof  for  life. 

As  throwing  light  upon  the  depth  and  sincerity  of  Doctor  Milnor's 
realization  of  his  pastoral  responsibility  a  few  brief  extracts  from 
successive  letters  to  clerical  friends  at  this  period  of  his  ministry- 
may  be  of  interest.    In  June,  1826,  he  wrote : 

Last  Sunday,  hot  as  it  was,  1  preached  three  times,  besides  preaching 
the  previous  evening.  I  am  looking  as  anxiously  for  the  descent  of  the 
dews  of  divine  grace  on  my  thu-sty  spiritual  vineyard,  as  the  husband- 
man is  now  desiring  that  of  the  rain  upon  his  parched  fields.  The  Lord 
gratify  the  expectations  and  desires  of  both. 
Again  in  February,  1827 : 

It  will  give  you  pleasure  to  hear,  that  Christians  in  St.  George's  have 
become  more  alive  to  the  necessity  of  combined  prayer  and  effort  in  behalf 
of  the  unconverted.  Though  a  few  only  of  encouraging  indications  have 
appeared  among  the  latter,  yet  there  is  evidently  more  intense  interest 
manifested  both  in  the  services  of  the  Church  and  in  my  weekly  lecture, 
which  latter  I  continue  to  find  profitable  to  myself  and  to  those  who  hear 
me.  How  stand  matters  with  you?  Will  your  people  bear  the  truth?  I 
am  sure  you  will  preach  it  wliether  they  will  hear  or  whether  they  will 
forbear.  The  Lord  bless  and  prosper  you  in  all  things. 
And  again  in  April,  1828 : 

Our  increase  of  eommimicants  in  St.  George's  has  not,  of  late,  been  very 
rapid;  and  yet  my  Sunday  and  week-day  services  were  never  better  at- 


106  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

tended,  nor  the  prayer-meetings  more  regularly  held  and  fervently  eon- 
diieted,  nor  the  six  Sunday-schools  of  my  Church  better  supplied  with 
teadiers  and  pupils.  Nor  does  God  leave  Himself  without  witness  among  us 
in  tlie  ingathering  of  souls.  Since  the  last  Convention  I  have  received  to 
communion  about  twenty.  We  have  now  some  earnest  inquii'ers;  but  still 
I  mourn  the  coldness  of  my  own  heart,  the  feebleness  of  my  labors,  and 
their  inadequate  results,  and  would  hail  with  unspeakable  gratitude  such 
an  evidence  of  the  divine  favor  as  has  been  afforded  to  many  congxegations 
in  our  land,  to  whatever  odium  it  might  subject  me  in  the  minds  of  many 
around  me. 

The  Vestry  received  a  communication  from  the  city  Fire  Depart- 
ment, March  9,  1826,  requesting  information  respecting  the  ringing 
of  the  bell  in  case  of  fire ;  in  reply  to  which  attention  was  called  to 
the  ninth  by-law  of  the  Church  directing  the  sexton  "  to  have  the 
bell  rung  at  all  alarms  of  fire." 

At  the  same  meeting  the  rector  and  wardens  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  procure  for  the  use  of  the  Church  the  engraved  por- 
traits of  the  three  Bishops  of  New  York — Bishop  Provoost,  Bishop 
Moore,  and  Bishop  Hobart.  The  tradition  is  that  these  portraits 
were  obtained  and  that  they  were  lost  in  the  burning  of  St.  George 's 
in  1865.  The  rector  was  at  the  same  time  requested  to  sit  for 
his  portrait,  to  be  taken  for  the  use  of  the  Church,  which  likeness 
of  the  rector  was  completed  in  about  two  years  and  was  ordered 
to  remain  at  the  rector's  house  subject  to  the  order  of  the  Vestry. 
A  request  from  Mr.  Ingham  for  permission  to  have  an  engraving 
made  of  the  same  was  granted. 

For  several  j'ears  Doctor  JMilnor  owned  a  farm  and  summer 
residence  at  Flushing,  Long  Island,  and  in  the  early  part  of  July, 
1827,  he  accidentally  fell  from  a  Flushing  stage,  his  head  striking  the 
curbstone  with  such  violence  that  the  ultimate  consequence  was  at- 
tended with  uncertainty.  By  the  21st  of  the  following  month,  how- 
ever, he  was  able  once  more  to  resume  his  seat  at  his  desk. 

The  lamented  decease  of  De  Witt  Clinton  in  February,  1828, 
demanded  that  wide-spread  recognition  of  his  talents  and  achieve- 
ments which  the  citizens  of  New  York  were  only  too  ready  to  ac- 
cord. He  had  been  Mayor  of  the  city,  Senator  of  the  United  States, 
and  Governor  of  the  State,  and  to  him  more  than  to  any  other 
man  was  due  the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal,  which  in  its  earlier 
stages  had  been  contemptuously  nicknamed  "  Clinton's  Ditch." 
To  do  him  honor  the  Common  Council  adopted  the  following  resolu- 
tion, which  by  its  clerk  was  communicated  to  the  clergy  of  all  names : 

Resolved,  That  the  Reverend  the  Clergy  of  this  City  be  respectfully 
requested  in  the  name  of  the  Common  Council  to  notice  in  an  appropriate 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  107 

and  solemn  manner  in  their  respective  churches  to-morrow,  the  deep  be- 
reavement sustained  bj^  our  common  country  by  the  death  of  our  Chief 
Magistrate  and  fellow  Citizen,  De  Witt  Clinton. 

The  clergy  generally  acted  in  accordance  with  this  request,  and 
the  sermon  of  the  Rector  of  St.  George 's  met  with  such  cordial  com- 
mendation that  the  entire  Vestry  united  in  a  letter  to  him  in  these 
words:  "  Desirous  of  extending  the  benefits  of  this  valuable  pro- 
duction to  those  who  had  not  the  privilege  of  being  present  at  its 
delivery,  and  convinced  that  it  would  be  to  them  a  most  acceptable 
favor,  we  are  induced  as  members  of  the  Vestry  to  request  a  copy 
of  the  same  for  publication."  The  request  was  acceded  to  and 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  copies  were  printed  for  distribution. 

The  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  however,  Bishop  Hobart,  seeing 
some  invasion  of  the  sacred  principle  of  total  separation  of  Church 
and  State  if  he  should  act  at  the  suggestion  of  the  civil  authority, 
declined  to  preach  upon  the  subject.  He  was  thereupon  subjected 
to  much  criticism  within  as  well  as  without  his  parish,  but  the 
reasons  for  his  refusal  he  embodied  in  the  following  letter  to  the 
Mayor : 
Sir, 

I  have  this  day  received  from  the  Clerk  of  the  Corporation  of  the  City 
a  copy  of  a  resolution  of  the  Common  Council,  in  which  '  the  Reverend 
the  Clergy  of  the  City  are  respectfully  requested  to  notice,  in  an  appro- 
priate and  solemn  manner,  in  their  respective  churches  to-moii-ow,  the 
deep  bereavement  sustained  by  our  common  country,  by  the  death  of  oiu' 
chief  magistrate  and  fellow  citizen,  De  Witt  Clinton. 

As  I  feel  myself  under  the  necessity'  of  declining  to  comply  with  this 
request  in  Trinity  Church  and  at  St.  Paul's  and  St.  John's  Chai^els,  of 
which  I  have  the  parocliial  charge,  I  hope  you  will  pei-mit  me  in  order 
to  prevent  misconception  to  state  the  reasons  which  have  influenced  me 
in  this  determination. 

The  prostitution  of  religion  to  the  purposes  of  secular  policy  has  pro- 
duced the  gTeatest  mischiefs;  and  I  conceive  that  the  studious  separation 
of  the  Church  from  the  State,  which  characterizes  our  republican  con- 
stitution, is  designed  to  pre\'ent  religion  and  its  ministers  from  being 
made  subservient  to  the  ^dews  of  those  who  from  time  to  time  may  ad- 
minister public  affairs.  But  if  the  civil  or  municipal  authority  may  desire 
tlie  clergy  '  to  notice,  in  an  appropriate  and  solemn  manner,'  the  death 
of  the  chief  magistrate  of  a  State,  the  request  may  be  extended  to  every 
distinguished  citizen  who  has  lilled  a  public  office;  and  thus  the  min- 
istrations of  the  clergy  may  be  made  to  advance  the  influence  of  political 
men  and  political  measures — an  evil  from  which,  m  the  old  world,  the  most 
unhapi^y  effects  have  resulted,  and  against  -nhich  in  this  countiy  we  should 
most  sedulously  guard. 

The  character  of  the  individual,  too,  whose  memory  is  to  receive  these 
high  religious  honours  may  not  render  him  worth}"  of  this  sacred  distinc- 
tion ;  or  in  seasons  of  great  political  excitement  he  may  be  as  obnoxious 


108  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

to  one  portion  of  the  community  as  he  is  the  idol  of  another;  and  thus 
the  clergy,  who  should  be  devoted  to  the  exercise  of  their  spiritual  func- 
tions, may  be  drawn  into  the  ranks  of  party,  and  suffer  in  its  rude  con- 
flicts. In  almost  every  case  from  the  varying  opinions  of  the  relative 
merits  of  public  men,  the  ministers  of  religion,  in  the  capacity  of  eulogists, 
may  as  much  fall  short  of  the  ardent  expectations  of  some,  as  they  may 
exceed  the  more  sober  estimate  of  others.  There  is  no  view  of  this  matter 
which  does  not  in  my  judgment  present  serious  objections  to  a  compliance 
with  the  i-equest  of  the  Corporation. 

As  far  as  my  private  feelings  are  concerned,  it  would  be  most  grateful 
to  me  to  bear  my  public  testimony  to  the  eminent  talents,  the  civil  services, 
and  the  private  virtues  of  the  lamented  chief  magistrate  of  the  State — 
and,  most  certainly,  great  deference  is  due  to  a  request  of  the  fimctionaries 
of  the  City,  in  which  I  am  a  minister;  but  paramount  considerations  of 
duty  will  prevent  my  compliance  with  their  request  which,  in  the  principle 
that  it  involves  and  in  the  precedent  which  it  will  establish,  appears  to 
me  of  a  dangerous  tendency,  in  regard  to  the  spirit  of  our  free  institutions, 
and  to  the  interests  of  Religion,  and  the  character  and  influence  of  its 
ministers. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be 

With  gxeat  respect 

Your  most  obedient  servant 

J.    H.    HOBART. 

Saturday,  Feb.  16,  1828. 

In  the  Christian  Journal,  etc.,  of  April,  1828,  a  review  of  Doctor 
Milnor's  sermon  appeared,  of  which  these  are  the  opening  passages: 

In  our  last,  our  readers  will  recollect,  we  expressed  a  decidedly  favor- 
able opinion  respecting  the  course  pursued  by  Bishop  Hobart,  as  the  Rector 
of  Trinity  Church  in  this  city,  in  declining  to  notice  in  the  pulpit  the  death 
of  the  late  Governor  Clinton  as  recommended  by  the  city  corporation. 
The  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church,  as  he  had  an  undoubted  right,  thought 
differently  and  complied  with  the  request.  The  result  was  the  interesting 
and  well-written  discourse  now  before  us.  The  Bishop's  letter  to  the 
Mayor  of  the  city,  containing  his  reasons  for  non-compliance  with  the 
recommendation  of  the  Common  Council,  having  been  published,  was  a 
fair  subject  of  public  comment.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Doctor  Milnor's 
discourse.  We  proceed,  therefore,  to  say  of  it  in  the  first  jilace  that  it 
is  far  from  furnisiiing  any  reason  for  changing  the  views  expressed  in 
our  last. 

We  object  first  to  the  principle  even  of  that  grade  of  union  between 
Church  and  State,  which  consists  in  recommendations  by  the  a-uthorities 
of  one  to  be  acceded  to  by  those  of  the  other. 

In  our  humble  opinion,  the  two  should  pursue  their  respective  depart- 
ments entirely  distinctly,  &c.,  &e. 

As  an  evidence  of  their  high  appreciation  of  Doctor  Milnor's 
pulpit  efforts  the  Vestry,  March  13,  1828,  ordered  that  three  copies 
of  all  the  published  discourses  of  the  Rector  be  procured  and  hound 
in  sets,  one  to  be  presented  to  the  Rector,  another  to  the  parish 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  109 

library,  and  the  third  to  be  deposited  among  the  archives  of  the 
Corporation. 

A  communication  was  presented  to  the  Vestry,  July  10,  1828,  from 
the  Rev.  John  Sandford  enclosing  a  drawing  of  the  ruins  of  St. 
George's  Church  after  the  fire,  which  he  offered  to  present  to  the 
Corporation.  This  valuable  contemporary  sketch  was  accepted  with 
thanks. 

Information  of  a  bequest  of  four  thousand  dollars  was  com- 
municated to  the  Vestry  by  the  Rector,  July  11,  1828.  Nicholas 
Anderson,  who  died  earlier  in  the  month,  had  been  sexton  of  the 
Church  since  1816  and  for  some  time  also  collector  of  pew  rents. 
By  his  last  will  and  testament  he  bequeathed  to  the  Corporation  of 
St.  George's  four  thousand  dollars  in  trust  to  apply  the  profits 
arising  out  of  their  investments  of  the  same  to  the  use  of  Susannah 
James,  his  housekeeper,  during  her  life,  and,  after  her  death,  to  pay 
over  the  income  to  the  Rector  of  the  Church  "  to  be  applied  by  him 
in  such  proportions  and  in  such  manner  as  he  may  think  proper  for 
the  support  of  the  Sunday-schools  of  said  Church,  the  increase  of  the 
library  connected  with  the  same,  or  any  other  charitable  or  pious 
use  to  which  the  canons  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  au- 
thorize the  communion  collections  to  be  applied."  Messrs.  Blood- 
good  and  Wardell  were  appointed  a  committee  to  attend  to  this 
business,  receive  the  legacy,  give  the  necessary  discharge  for  the 
same,  and  invest  the  four  thousand  dollars  in  bond  and  mortgage 
on  city  real  estate  adequately  secured  at  an  interest  of  not  less  than 
six  per  cent.  At  a  later  meeting  the  property  committee  was  di- 
rected to  procure  a  suitable  head-stone  for  Mr.  Anderson's  grave. 
The  income  of  the  fund  was  annually  paid  to  the  treasurer  of 
the  Sunday  -  schools  and  proved  to  be  a  valuable  help  in  their 
support. 

One  of  the  most  trying  experiences  through  which  the  Rector 
of  St.  George's  was  called  to  pass  in  his  whole  ministerial  career 
arose  from  the  part  which  he  took  in  the  organization  and  dissolu- 
tion of  "  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Clerical  Association  of  New 
York,"  which  had  for  its  object  "  the  promotion  of  the  personal 
piety  and  the  official  usefulness  of  its  members,  by  devotional  ex- 
ercises and  by  conversation  on  missionary  and  such  other  religious 
subjects  as  might  conduce  to  mutual  edification." 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1828  that  a  few  of  the  clergy,  under 
the  leadership  of  the  Rev.  Doctors  Wainwright  and  Milnor,  felt 
that  an  association  to  promote  the  object  above  stated  would  be 


110  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

mutually  helpful  and  beneficial  to  the  Church,  Bishop  Ilobart  was 
consulted  on  the  subject,  and  while  expressing  approval  of  the 
contemplated  object  he  yet  found  "  various  objections  to  the  pro- 
posed plan  of  accomplishing  it."  At  the  diocesan  convention  in 
October,  however,  it  was  decided  to  proceed  with  the  organization. 
The  association  was  composed  of  clergymen  of  various  shades  of 
opinion  in  the  Church;  its  membership  was  open  to  any  clergyman 
of  the  diocese  who  might  signify  to  the  secretary  his  approval  of 
the  nature  and  object  of  the  association  and  his  desire  to  connect 
himself  with  it,  and  any  member  was  at  liberty  to  invite  any  non- 
resident brother  clergyman  to  attend  the  meetings.  Moreover,  the 
common  topics  of  theological  and  ecclesiastical  controversy  were 
excluded  from  discussion.  There  was  some  delay,  after  the  regular 
meetings  had  been  begun,  in  getting  the  constitution  and  forms  of 
devotion  accurately  printed;  but  when  a  copy  thereof  reached  the 
Bishop  he  at  once  issued,  under  date  February  21,  1829,  ''  a  Pastoral 
Letter  "  to  the  diocese,  which  astounded  the  members  of  the  asso- 
ciation, provoked  much  newspaper  and  pamphlet  controversy,  and 
forced  the  members  to  consider  the  alternative  of  dissolving  the 
association  or  of  continuing  it  in  face  of  the  officially  expressed 
disapproval  of  their  Bishop.  The  denouement  was  hastened  by  the 
withdrawal  of  the  clergyman  who  was  chiefly  associated  with  Doctor 
Milnor  in  the  inception  of  the  enterprise;  and  as  its  perpetuation 
would,  under  all  the  circumstances,  have  been  made  to  bear  a 
partisan  aspect  the  brief-lived  Protestant  Episcopal  Clerical  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York  passed  into  history.  It  is  somewhat  difficult, 
in  these  days  of  the  Churchman's  Association,  the  Clericus,  and 
divers  clerical  clubs,  to  appreciate  the  odium  which  was  made  to 
attach  to  Doctor  Milnor  and  his  associates  in  their  well-meant  design 
of  meeting  statedly  for  mutual  edification. 

The  subject  of  music  was  not  unattended  with  its  usual  vexations 
in  the  experience  of  St.  George's.  Organists  and  clerks  and  singers 
succeeded  one  another  in  the  hope  and  promise  of  improvement  in 
the  music,  which  sooner  or  later  issued  in  the  usual  disappoint- 
ment. As  illustrative  of  the  constant  efforts  of  the  Vestry  to  im- 
prove the  music  and  make  it  more  satisfactory  to  the  congregation 
let  it  suffice  to  note  a  few  sample  items  from  the  records,  as  when 
it  was  resolved,  December  11,  1823,  that  a  committee  consisting  of 
the  Rector  and  wardens  be  appointed  "  to  take  into  consideration 
the  psalmody  of  the  Church  and  to  report  what  measures  may  be 
adopted  for  the  improvement  thereof."     The  resignation  of  the 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  111 

organist  promptly  followed  and  Mr.  James  H.  Swindell,  a  former 
occupant  of  the  position,  was  appointed  in  his  place  at  a  salary  of 
three  hundred  dollars.  The  Eector  was  "  authorized  and  requested 
to  procure  for  the  use  of  the  choir  twelve  copies  of  Dyer's  anthems, 
twelve  of  Dyer's  psalm  and  hymn  books,  and  twelve  blank-books  to 
write  in  music."  These  books  were  supplemented  or  supplanted 
four  years  later  by  "  as  many  books  of  psalmody  prepared  by 
Doctors  Wainwright  and  Muhlenberg  as  may  be  required  for  the 
choir  in  the  organ  gallery."  In  April,  1826,  the  organist  went  to 
England  and  his  duties  were  discharged  bj^  "  supplies  "  until 
October,  when  the  Vestry  took  measures  to  supply  the  vacant  place. 
A  new  parish  clerk  was  also  appointed  "  to  conduct  the  singing- 
school,  etc.,  with  a  view  to  the  improvement  of  the  music  in  the 
Church."  Again  in  October,  1829,  a  committee  was  appointed 
"  with  power  to  take  measures  to  improve  the  music  of  the  Church," 
which  made  the  following  report : 

That  they  have  engaged  John  Smith  to  take  a  part  in  the  choir  at  the 
rate  of  twenty-five  dollars  per  anniina  during  his  continuance  to  sing  there 
with  the  consent  of  the  Vestry.  After  endeavoring  in  vain  to  establish 
a  school  in  the  vestiy-room  for  instruction  in  sacred  music  under  the 
superuitendence  of  the  present  clerk,  the  committee  found  it  necessaiy 
to  employ  some  person  better  qualified  to  act  as  mstructor;  they  accord- 
ingly made  an  engagement  with  Mr.  E.  W.  Morse,  under  whose  super- 
intendence a  school  has  been  opened,  and  they  have  the  satisfaction  of 
being  enabled  to  state  that  it  is  well  attended  and  promises  advantageous 
results  far  surpassing  their  previous  expectations.  The  committee  be- 
lieve that  nothing  is  wanting  to  sustain  this  part  of  divine  worship  in  the 
Church,  but  a  clerk  and  organist  with  the  requisite  qualifications,  which, 
they  feel  constrained  to  add,  the  present  incumbents  in  their  opinion  do 
not  possess ;  wliich  opinion  is  stren.gthened  by  the  dissatisfaction  which 
many  of  the  congregation  have  expressed  in  reference  to  both,  though 
more  particularly  as  to  the  clerk,  as  well  as  by  their  own  observation  for  a 
long  time  past.  Thej'  feel  persuaded  that  the  want  of  a  competent  clerk 
and  organist  form  at  the  present  time  the  principal  impediments  to  ob- 
taining a  good  and  sufficient  choir  from  the  eongregation,  and  therefore 
recommend  the  adoption  of  the  followmg  resolution :  Resolved,  That  a 
committee  be  appointed  with  power  to  engage  a  suitable  clerk  and  organist 
with  the  approbation  and  consent  of  the  Rector  to  succeed  the  present  in- 
cumbents when  their  terms  of  service  expire  or  as  soon  as  the  places  of 
either  may  become  vacated. 

This  resolution  having  been  adopted,  the  committee,   February 
11,  1830,  further  reported 

that  they  had  engaged  Mr.  William  Yucho  as  organist  at  a  salary  of 
three  hundred  dollars  per  annum  to  commence  at  Easter,  for  which  he  had 
engaged  in  addition  to  the  ordinaiy  duties,  to  assist  in  practising  for  the 
instruction  of  the  choir  two  evenings  in  each  week  if  required.  They 
further  reported  that  Mr.   E.   W.   Morse  had  made   application   for  the 


112  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

position  as  parish  clerk  and  had  expressed  his  willin^iess  *  to  perform  all 
the  duties  appertaining  to  the  station  and  also  to  instruct  a  clioir  &  teach 
a  singing-school.'  The  api)lieation  Avas  approved  and  Mr.  Morse  engaged 
at  a  salary  of  four  hundred  dollars  per  annum  beginning  with  Easter, 
1830. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Mason,  however,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Cedar  Street,  called  upon  Doctor  Milnor  and  stated  that  the 
course  pursued  by  Mr.  Morse,  in  offering  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
the  office  of  parish  clerk,  had  been  the  result  of  misunderstand- 
ing and  mistake  and  that  his  congregation  were  very  desirous  that 
Mr.  Morse  should  be  released  from  his  contract  with  St.  George's 
and  permitted  to  remain  with  them.  The  Rector  communicated 
this  statement  to  the  Vestry,  who,  after  considerable  discussion, 
decided  that  as  the  offer  to  become  their  parish  clerk  was  made  to 
them  by  Mr.  Morse  without  solicitation,  and  no  intimation  having 
been  received  from  him  of  a  wish  on  his  part  to  have  the  agreement 
canceled,  it  would  not  be  expedient  or  justifiable  in  them  to  comply 
with  Mr.  Mason's  suggestion.  The  congregation  in  Cedar  Street, 
however,  were  not  satisfied  to  have  Mr.  IVIorse  employed  in  St. 
George's,  and  the  Vestry  finally  consented  to  release  him  from  his 
duties  as  parish  clerk  in  about  two  months.  The  next  incumbent 
of  the  office  was  William  A.  Jones,  who  proposed  "  to  perform  the 
duties  of  parish  clerk  and  chorister,  teach  the  singing-school  six 
months  in  the  year,  and  attend  to  such  other  duties  as  may  be  deemed 
requisite  for  the  improvement  of  the  choir."  He  was  engaged  at 
a  salary  of  three  hundred  dollars  per  annum.  i\Ir.  Jones,  however, 
was  on  duty  only  for  a  short  period,  for  it  was  resolved,  March  10, 
1831,  "  that  in  view  of  the  aid  now  rendered  by  members  of  the 
congregation  in  sustaining  the  sacred  music  of  the  Church,  it  is 
expedient  on  and  after  the  first  day  of  May  next  to  make  the  ex- 
periment of  doing  without  a  clerk."  This  experiment  appears 
to  have  worked  satisfactorily  for  about  three  years,  for  no  ap- 
pointment of  a  parish  clerk  was  made  until  April  18,  1834,  when 
Solomon  Warriner  accepted  the  position  at  two  hundred  dollars  per 
year  and  began  an  extended  term  of  honorable  service.  The  organ- 
ist appointed  in  the  following  year,  May,  1835,  as  successor  to  Mr. 
Yucho  was  William  Henry  Milnor,  M.D.,  the  Rector's  son,  at  three 
hundred  dollars  per  year,  whose  services  proved  most  acceptable, 
and  peace  reigned  in  musical  affairs  for  nearly  seven  years.  The 
wisdom,  however,  of  securing  "  a  competent  musical  instructor  who 
shall  teach  sacred  music  to  such  of  the  congregation  as  choose  to 
attend  "  having  commended  itself  to  the  Vestrj-,  the  music  com- 
mittee reported,  January  13,  1842,  "  that  they  had  engaged  the 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  U3 

services  of  ]\Ir.  Hastings  as  instructor  one  evening  each  week,  for 
the  term  of  three  months,  for  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars  ' ' ; 
and  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  results  justified  the  expenditure  of 
what  for  those  times,  for  thirteen  instructions,  was  rather  high 
compensation. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE     MILNOR    PERIOD 

(1830-1836) 

The  mission  of  Doctor  Milnor  to  England  as  a  representative  of 
the  American  Bible  Society  and  other  religious  organizations  was 
a  signal  and  productive  experience  in  his  honorable  career.  The 
"  May  Anniversaries  "  in  London  were  the  occasion  of  the  annual 
assembling  of  enthusiastic  thousands  of  the  supporters  of  the  Brit- 
ish and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  and 
other  beneficent  organizations,  and  the  idea  long  entertained  of 
sending  Doctor  Milnor  to  attend  these  anniversaries  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  kindred  societies  seemed  now  possible  of  realization. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Vestry,  February  20,  1830,  "  the 
Rector  stated  that  since  his  application,  several  years  ago,  for  leave 
of  absence  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  England,  when  the  Vestry 
were  kind  enough  to  grant  permission  for  that  purpose,  although 
circumstances  prevented  his  availing  himself  of  it,  he  has  been  fre- 
quently and  much  importuned  by  his  religious  friends  to  fulfil  what 
was  then  expected  of  him  on  behalf  of  the  American  Bible  Society 
and  other  institutions  of  our  country,  with  which  he  has  been  long 
officially  connected;  that  at  this  time,  in  consequence  of  renewed 
applications  of  the  same  nature,  urged  upon  his  attention  by  many 
powerful  considerations,  his  mind  has  become  impressed  with  the 
persuasion  of  its  being  his  duty,  if  practicable,  to  attend  the  en- 
suing anniversary  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  the 
Church  Missionary,  the  Prayer-Book  and  Homily,  the  Tract,  and 
other  religious  societies  in  London,  in  the  month  of  May  next;  and 
while  in  England  to  avail  himself  of  whatever  means  may  be  pre- 
sented for  furthering  the  interests  of  institutions  of  a  similar  kind 
in  the  United  States ;  and  that,  adding  to  these  views  a  humble  hope, 
with  the  help  of  God's  grace,  of  improving  by  the  same  means  his 
own  mind,  and  increasing  his  own  zeal  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties 
to  his  beloved  congregation  on  his  return,  he  was  induced  to  solicit 
of  the  Vestry  leave  of  absence  for  the  space  of  about  six  months.'* 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  115 

The  Vestry  thereupon  unanimously 

Besolved,  That  although  the  Vestry  cannot,  without  deep  concern,  look 
foi-ward  to  so  long  a  separation  between  their  pastor  and  his  congregation, 
to  whom  he  is  so  faithful,  and  by  whom  he  is  so  much  respected  and  be- 
loved, vet — convinced  that  the  proposed  mission,  by  leading  to  a  more 
friendly  and  intimate  intercourse  between  the  eminent  and  useful  asso- 
ciations in  this  and  our  parent  countiy,  which  have  for  their  object  the 
extension  of  religious  knowledge,  and  by  collecting  much  useful  mforma- 
tion  as  to  the  state  of  religion"  abroad,  and  the  means  of  propagating  the 
knowledge  and  influence  of  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  in  various  other  ways, 
may  promote  the  interests  and  advancement  of  the  institutions  formed 
here  for  such  purposes,  and  of  the  common  cause  of  our  holy  religion — 
this  Vestiy  approves  of  the  design,  and  consents  to  the  absence  of  the 
Rector  for  the  requisite  time;  expressing  their  satisfaction  at  being  thus 
permitted,  in  their  endeavors  to  promote  such  interesting  objects,  to  eon- 
tribute,  as  they  tiaist,  to  his  personal  gratification,  by  adding  to  the  means 
of  extending  his  own  usefulness.  And  they  affectionately  commend  him_  to 
the  care  of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  and  pray  that  he  may  enjoy 
a  speedy  and  j^leasant  voyage,  and  a  safe  return. 

At  the  Vestry's  request  that  the  Rector  recommend  a  suitable 
person  to  conduct  the  services  of  the  Church  and  discharge  other 
parochial  duties  during  his  absence  he  proposed  the  name  of  Mat- 
thew H.  Henderson,  a  student  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary, 
who  was  expecting  to  be  shortly  ordained.  The  nomination  was 
approved  by  the  Vestry  and  five  hundred  dollars  allowed  in  com- 
pensation for  his  services. 

As  illustrating  the  spirit  in  which  Doctor  ]\Iilnor  undertook  this 
mission  to  England,  the  following  letter  of  the  same  date  as  the 
Vestry  meeting  just  referred  to  addressed  to  the  Rev.  John  S.  Stone 
will  be  of  interest: 

New  York,  Feb.  20,  1830. 

Rev.  axd  dear  Brother — You  will  be  surprised  to  learn,  that  I  shall  not 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  as  you  pass  through  New  York,  and  still 
more  so  when  you  know  the  cause.  I  have  yielded  to  the  importunity  of 
my  friends,  and  with  the  unanimous  consent  of  my  Vestry,  have  agreed  to 
sail  for  England  on  the  16tli  of  the  ensuing  month.  Perhaps  it  might, 
by  some,  be  considered  affectation  in  me  to  say,  that  I  have  acceded  to  this 
measure  with  reluctance,  and  that  nothing  but  a  sense  of  duty  would  have 
led  me  to  consent  to  so  long  an  absence  from  my  family  and  flock.  But 
I  am  sure  you  will  believe  me  when  I  say,  that  with  advanced  age,  much 
of  the  curiosity  that  would  have  made  such  a  proposal  delightful  in  my 
earlier  years,  has  subsided,  and  that,  besides  other  feelings  of  repugnance 
to  crossing  the  ocean,  a  conviction  of  my  incompetency  for  many  duties 
which  will  probably  be  consequent  on  my  arrival  in  England,  has  op- 
pressively increased*  it.  I  shall,  if  God  permit,  attend  the  principal  an- 
niversaries in  London,  and  perhaps  may  be  called  to  take  some  part  in 
their  pi-oceedings ;  and  much  as  I  have  sj^oken  in  public  in  my  own  land, 


116  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

I  do  shrink  at  the  thought  of  doing  so  before  such  assemblages  as  those 
occasions  bring  together.  But  if  God  enable  me  to  become  an  instrument 
in  opening  a  more  effectual  communication,  and  of  exciting  a  more  feeling 
interest  between  the  evangelical  clergy  of  England  and  those  of  this  coun- 
try, and  between  the  great  benevolent  institutions  there  and  here,  it  will 
l>e  no  embittering  reflection,  during  the  residue  of  my  brief  term  of  ex- 
istence, that  T  have  been  so  honored,  and  to  God  shall  be  all  the  gloiy  and 
the  praise.  Let  me  ask  of  you  your  earnest  supplications  in  my  behalf, 
for  divine  preservation  and  support  in  the  enterprise  to  which  His  provi- 
dence appears  to  direct  me. 

Your  faithful  and  sincere  brother  in  Christ, 

James  Milnor. 

As  soon  as  it  became  generally  known  that  Doctor  Milnor  was 
going  abroad  suggestions  and  advice  and  commissions  of  various 
kinds  began  pouring  in  upon  him.  Had  he  not  been  a  man  of  ' '  un- 
common quickness  and  skill  in  reducing  matters  of  business  to 
system  "  he  would  certainly  have  failed  to  meet  some  of  the  ex- 
pectations of  his  friends.  But  he  utilized  his  time  on  shipboard  in 
examining  in  detail  his  memoranda  of  things  to  be  done  and  so 
prepared  himself  for  their  execution  by  well-digested  plans.  As 
indicating  the  wide  range  of  matters  intrusted  to  him,  it  may  suf- 
fice to  state  that  commissions  and  instructions  more  or  less  formal 
were  issued  by  The  American  Bible  Society,  The  American  Tract 
Society,  The  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  The  American  Sunday-school  Union, 
The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  The 
American  Education  Society,  The  American  Temperance  Society, 
The  American  Seamen's  Friend  Society,  The  Prison  Discipline  So- 
ciety, and  The  General  Union  for  Promoting  the  Observance  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath.  He  was  also  charged  with  important  business 
commissions,  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  for  Bishop  Chase 
and  Kenyon  College,  and  for  many  individual  friends;  while  the 
Rev.  Doctor  Hawks,  later  the  Historiographer  of  the  Church,  charged 
him  to  procure  transcripts  of  valuable  documents  touching  the  early 
history  of  the  Church  in  this  country,  to  be  found  in  the  archives 
of  the  venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts. 

Thus  abundantly  accredited  by  public  and  private  "  epistles  of 
commendation,"  he  set  sail,  March  16,  1830,  on  the  packet  ship 
Florida,  Captain  Tinkham,  amid  the  affectionate  farewells  of  pa- 
rishioners and  other  Christian  friends,  some  of  whom  "  accompanied 
him  to  the  ship."  Before  the  pilot  had  left  the  vessel  he  had  begun 
that  valuable  journal  which  affords  a  daily  chronicle  of  his  experi- 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  117 

ence.  The  barest  outline  of  the  facts,  however,  is  all  that  can  be 
given  here. 

On  arrival  in  Liverpool,  April  14th,  he  met  the  kindest  reception 
by  friends  old  and  new,  who  vied  with  one  another  in  tendering  most 
cordial  hospitalities.  His  first  Sunday  was  spent  in  Birmingham, 
where  he  attended  four  services,  being  himself  debarred  from  preach- 
ing, by  that  statutory  enactment  (not  repealed  until  1848)  which 
excluded  the  clergy  of  the  American  Church  from  officiating  in  any 
of  the  churches  of  the  Establishment.  On  the  following  day  he 
reached  London  and  on  the  next  morning  plunged  into  the  work 
of  his  mission,  naturally  beginning  with  the  Bible  Society's  head- 
quarters in  Blackfriars.  The  pressure  of  engagements,  both  in 
meeting  officials  of  the  various  societies  and  attending  meetings  and 
services  of  all  sorts,  proved  exacting  indeed;  but  Doctor  Milnor 
was  thus  brought  into  personal  association  with  the  leaders  of  Brit- 
ish benevolence  and  Christian  activity.  The  details  as  recorded  in 
his  journal  are  of  surpassing  interest. 

The  first  of  the  anniversaries  occurred  on  Monday,  May  3d.  It 
was  that  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society.  That  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  followed  on  Tuesday.  Wednesday  was  devoted 
to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  On  Thursday  he  attended 
the  Religious  Tract  Society's  anniversary  and  that  of  the  Prayer- 
Book  and  Homily  Society.  At  each  of  these  Doctor  Milnor  delivered 
an  address,  which  was  most  appreciatively  received.  Friday  was 
devoted  to  the  London  Society  for  Promoting  Christianity  among 
the  Jews  and  on  Saturday  the  Blackheath  Branch  Bible  Society 
claimed  his  attendance  and  an  address.  During  the  second  week 
he  attended  the  following  anniversaries :  that  of  The  Port  of  London 
and  Bethel  Union  Society  on  Monday ;  The  Sunday-school  Union  on 
Tuesday,  at  both  of  which  he  spoke;  The  Naval  and  Military  Bible 
Society  on  Wednesday,  at  which  he  put  forward  to  speak  in  his 
place  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Charles  P.  McDvaine,  who  had  held  a 
professorship  and  the  chaplaincy  in  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy;  The  London  Missionary  Society  on  Thursday;  The  So- 
ciety for  Promoting  the  Principles  of  the  Reformation  on  Friday^ 
at  both  of  which  he  made  addresses ;  and  on  Saturday  The  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  with  Mr.  Wilberforce,  the  veteran  champion  of  the 
oppressed  African,  in  the  chair. 

The  great  anniversaries  being  now  over,  Doctor  Milnor  was  at 
liberty  to  devote  his  attention  to  the  subordinate  matters  of  business 
with  which  he  had  been  charged.  Prominent  among  these  was  that 
of  securing  a  teacher  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  for  the  New  York 


118  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Institution.  Several  institutions  for  these  "  children  of  silence  "  in 
which  articulation  was  taught  were  visited,  but  no  teacher  was  pro- 
curable in  England.  His  quest  for  one  in  Paris  was  attended  with 
more  success.  Among  the  many  more  private  meetings  which  from 
time  to  time  he  attended  were  one  of  the  committee  of  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  at  which  he  communicated  the  wish  of 
the  American  Bible  Society  "to  be  advised  in  relation  to  the  most 
eligible  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  modern  Greek  ' ' ; 
and  one  of  the  committee  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  at  which 
he  had  opportunity  to  fully  express  the  views  of  the  directors  of 
The  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  our  Church  as  to 
intercourse  with  the  English  Society.  On  June  2d  he  visited  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  and  on  the  next  day  attended  in  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral  the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  children  of  the  Charity 
School,  of  whom  about  six  thousand  were  ranged  in  seats  of  gradu- 
ated elevation  within  the  circumference  of  the  great  dome.  A  seat 
was  assigned  him  in  the  pew  set  apart  for  the  Society  for  Promotion 
of  Christian  Knowledge,  admission  to  which  necessitated  his  ap- 
pearance in  gown  and  bands.  ''  Few  circumstances,"  he  writes, 
"  I  should  have  regretted  more  than  absence  on  this  occasion." 

A  serious  accident  occurred  to  Doctor  Milnor  on  the  12th  of  June 
by  his  falling  from  a  stage-coach  in  attempting  to  mount  to  an 
outside  seat,  thereby  terribly  straining  his  back  and  chest.  For 
several  days  he  suffered  considerably,  but  then  felt  able  to  venture 
on  the  journey  to  Paris  which  had  been  delayed  by  the  accident. 
Embarking  at  London  for  Calais,  June  17th,  another  accident  at 
once  occurred  through  a  collision  between  the  bowsprit  of  a  collier 
in  the  narrow  channel  of  the  Thames  and  the  aft  mast  of  the  steamer 
on  which  Doctor  Mihior  and  his  companions,  the  Kev.  Messrs. 
Mcllvaine  and  Smith,  were  traveling.  The  mast  was  wrenched  out 
of  its  palace  so  that  it  fell  across  the  deck  within  a  foot  or  two  of 
the  spot  where  they  were  standing,  and  while  they  providentially 
escaped,  one  man  was  killed  and  several  injured.  Calais,  however, 
was  safely  reached  that  evening,  and  Paris  the  next  day. 

The  engagement  of  a  competent  teacher  for  the  New  York  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Asylum,  which  was  his  chief  object  in  coming  to  Paris, 
now  occupied  his  attention.  Through  the  kind  offices  of  the  Di- 
rector of  the  Royal  Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb  he  was  enabled,  after  some  delay,  to  conclude  an  engagement 
with  Mr.  L.  Vaysse  to  accept  the  New  Y'ork  position.  Neither  he 
nor  his  companions  in  travel  cared  to  linger  on  French  soil,  where, 
however,  they  received  many  social  courtesies  in  response  to  their 


THE    MILNOR     PERIOD  119 

letters  of  introduction.  On  their  return  trip  they  reached  Brighton 
July  10th  and  passed  at  once  to  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  at  Ryde 
they  spent  a  delightful  Sunday  under  congenial  preaching.  His 
journal  reads : 

This  was  a  delightful  day  to  myself  and  my  friends.  What  a  contrast 
to  the  business,  and  bustle,  and  noise  of  Pai'is,  the  quiet  of  this  pleasant 
town  and  peaceful  isle;  to  the  defiling  superstitions  of  popery,  the  chaste 
worshi23  of  our  Church;  and  to  the  senseless  pomp  and  pageantry  of  their 
corrupt  and  miserable  forms,  the  pure  Gospel  as  preached  by  a  gifted 
minister  of  God! 

As  an  officer  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  Doctor  Milnor  was 
desirous  of  verifying,  if  possible,  the  descriptive  part  of  what  in 
those  days  was  esteemed  as  an  "  incomparably  useful  tract,"  The 
Dairyman's  Daughter  by  Leigh  Richmond;  as  one  of  the  publica- 
tion principles  of  the  American  Tract  Society  was  to  issue  no  nar- 
rative tract  which  is  not  descriptively  accurate.  They  traced  the 
scenes  portrayed  by  the  sainted  author  of  The  Dairyman's  Daugh- 
ter, The  Young  Cottager,  and  The  African  Servant,  with  intensest 
interest  rejoicing  in  the  fidelity  to  nature  of  the  delightful  de- 
scriptions. And  when  they  reached  Newport  for  the  night  they 
could  talk  on  none  but  things  connected  with  the  scenes,  and  incidents, 
and  reflections  of  the  day;  imiting  in  the  sentiment  that  Paris,  with  all 
its  palaces,  and  gardens,  and  paintings,  and  statues,  had  afforded  no  such 
gratification  to  our  eyes  as  the  glorious  works  of  God,  on  which  they  had 
dwelt  in  this  enclianting  island;  and  none  of  its  multiplied  attractions,  such 
an  inward  feast  as  the  religious  associations  of  this  day's  travel  had 
supplied. 

Doctor  ]\Iilnor  was  privileged  to  visit  other  parts  of  England 
during  the  next  two  months  and  to  accomplish  brief  tours  in  Wales, 
Ireland,  and  Scotland.  That  he  derived  abundant  pleasure  and 
real  profit  from  these  journeyings  is  abundantly  evidenced  on  the 
pages  of  his  journal.  But  his  paramount  quest  was  acquaintance 
with  religious  institutions  and  the  leaders  of  religious  thought,  and 
his  opportunities  in  these  directions  were  zealously  availed  of.  The 
impression  which  he  left  everywhere  behind  him  was  well  voiced 
in  the  action  of  the  committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  on  the  eve  of  his  departure : 

The  Committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  desire  to  record 
the  gTeat  satisfaction  which  they  liave  experienced  in  receiving  the  Rev. 
Doctor  Milnor,  secretary  for  foreign  correspondence  to  the  American  Bible 
Society,  as  the  representative  of  that  institution  at  the  late  annual  meet- 
ing. They  would  also  express  their  conviction,  that  all  the  supporters 
of  the  Society  present  upon  that  occasion,  shared  largely  in  their  own 
delight,  as  they  listened  to  the  interesting  statements  delivered  by  Doctor 
Milnor,  relative  to  the  i^resent  proceedings  and  prospects  of  the  American 


120  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Bible  Society;  and  they  would  add  their  persuasion,  tliat  the  circulation 
of  those  statements  in  the  printed  report  of  Doctor  Milnor's  speech,  in 
the  montlily  extracts  for  May  last,  has  produced  a  similar  feeling  among 
the  friends  and  sujiporters  of  the  auxiliary  societies,  branches,  and  asso- 
ciations throughout  the  kingdom. 

The  Committee;  therefore,  in  the  name  of  the  Society,  request  Doctor 
Milnor  to  convey  to  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  American  Bible  Society 
an  exi^ression  of  the  unfeigned  delight  with  which  their  labors  are  regarded 
in  this  countiy,  accompanied  by  their  earnest  prayers,  that  those  labors 
may,  from  year  to  year,  become  still  more  extended,  and  that  wisdom  and 
strength,  and  all  the  necessary  means  of  usefulness,  may  be  vouchsafed 
to  them. 

The  Committee  cannot  but  take  the  present  opportunity  of  solemnly 
recording  their  deej?  conviction,  as  they  regard  the  aspect  of  the  present 
times,  of  the  necessity  and  importance  of  giving  the  widest  possible  cir- 
culation to  the  inspired  volume,  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  truth,  of 
devotion,  and  practice:  and  the  encouragement  they  experience  in  wit- 
nessing the  existence  of  a  similar  feeling  on  the  part  of  their  brethren 
in  America;  while  they  would  unite  with  them  in  ascribing  all  glory  to 
Him  who  has  put  it  into  their  hearts  to  make  the  efforts  in  which  they  are 
mutually  engaged,  and  who  has  crowned  those  efforts  with  such  manifest 
tokens  of  his  favor. 

The  Committee  desire,  further,  to  express  towards  Doctor  Milnor  per- 
sonally, their  unfeigned  feelings  of  brotherly  affection,  and  to  commend 
him  to  the  protection  of  his  heavenly  Father,  that  he  may  return  in  safety 
and  comfort  to  the  bosom  of  his  family,  and  be  permitted  to  resume  his 
important  duties,  both  as  minister  of  St.  George's  Church,  and  secretary 
for  foreign  correspondence  to  the  American  Bible  Society. 

Teignmouth,    President. 
Bexley,    Vice-President. 

Doctor  Milnor  embarked  from  Liverpool  on  his  return  voyage 
September  27th  and  reached  New  York  on  the  30th  of  October.  The 
pleasure  and  profit  which  he  had  derived  from  his  journey ings,  and 
the  delightful  intercourse  he  had  enjoyed  with  leaders  of  religious 
thought  abroad,  were  blessings  for  which  he  was  profoundly  grateful 
and  which  added  largely  to  his  personal  equipment  for  future  use- 
fulness. Nor  did  he  fail  to  leave  a  blessing  behind  him,  in  the 
abiding  impressions  produced  by  his  elevated  Christian  character 
and  purpose,  as  well  as  by  his  facile  and  practical  presentation  of 
facts  and  truth.  His  mission  was  the  pioneer  in  opening  up  chan- 
nels of  free  sympathy  and  intercourse  between  those  noble  institu- 
tions of  our  motherland  and  cognate  organizations  in  our  own, 
which  have  exerted  such  a  boundless  influence  throughout  the  world 
in  the  dissemination  of  religious  truth  and  light.  In  the  long  series 
of  reciprocal  delegations  and  international  official  intercourse  the 
Kector  of  St.  George's  has  the  honorable  distinction  of  having  led 
the  way. 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  121 

The  societies  which,  he  had  represented  in  England  received  from 
him  on  his  return  appropriate  reports  and  gave  expression  to  him 
of  their  heartiest  thanks.  The  formal  action  of  the  one  which  took 
the  initiative  in  asking  him  to  go  may  serve  to  indicate  the  spirit 
of  them  all.  At  a  meeting  of  the  managers  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  November  4,  1830,  it  was 

Resolved  unanimously,  Tliat  while  this  Board  are  deeply  penetrated  with 
a  sense  of  gi-atitude  to  Almighty  God,  for  His  pi'otectiug  care  over  the 
Rev.  Doctor  Milnor  during  his  absence;  for  the  favorable  reception  which 
he  met  with  among  the  friends  of  the  Bible  in  England  and  France;  and 
for  his  safe  return  to  his  familj'  and  flock,  and  to  his  important  duties  as 
Foreign  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society;  this  Board  is  fuUy 
sensible  of  the  very  important  seiTices  which  the  Rev.  Doctor  Milnor  has 
rendered  to  the  Society,  by  the  able  and  acceptable  manner  in  which  he 
has  performed,  gratuitously,  the  duties  of  a  delegate  to  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  for  wliich  they  desire  to  express  to  him  their 
sincere  thanks,  and  request  of  Doctor  Milnor  a  correct  copy  of  his  report, 
with  a  view  to  publication. 

John  Pintard,  Recording  Secretary. 

It  will  be  recalled  with  what  ready  cordiality  the  Vestry  con- 
sented to  the  Rector's  absence  in  view  of  the  importance  of  his 
mission.  Their  generous  spirit  found  further  expression  in  these 
resolutions,  adopted  November  11,  1830 : 

Resolved  imanimously.  That  tliis  Vestry  acknowledge,  with  humble 
thanks,  the  merciful  providence  of  Almighty  God,  in  the  preservation  of 
our  cherished  Rector  during  his  late  absence,  and  in  liis  happy  return  to 
his  congregation. 

Resolved  unanimously.  That  as  evidence  of  our  respect  and  attachment, 
and  in  consideration  of  his  voyage  having  been  undertaken,  and  success- 
fully prosecuted,  chiefly  with  a  view  to  benefit  the  religious  and  charitable 
institutions  of  the  community,  the  Rector  be  requested  to  allow  us  a  par- 
ticipation in  the  extra  expenses  incident  to  his  mission,  and  that  the  Treas- 
urer is  hereby  directed  to  pay  him  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  out  of 
the  first  unappropriated  money  which  may  be  received. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  desire  of  this  Vestry  that  the  very  appropriate 
and  instructive  sermon  delivered  by  the  Rector  of  this  Church  last  Sunday 
morning  on  the  occasion  of  his  return  from  abroad  be  printed  and  pub- 
lished, and  resolved,  further,  that  Mr.  Van  Wagenen  and  Mr.  Mulligaa 
be  a  committee  to  request  from  him  a  copy  for  that  purpose  and  to  super- 
intend the  printing  and  distribution,  and  the  Treasurer  is  hereby  authorized 
to  pay  the  expenses. 

The  Rector  at  the  same  meeting  communicated  to  the  Vestry  that 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Henderson  had  received  and  accepted  a  call  to  the 
Church  at  Newark,  whereupon  the  following  resolution  was  adopted 
and  ordered  to  be  communicated  to  Mr.  Henderson : 

Resolved  unanimously,  That  in  parting  with  our  young  friend,  who  has 
so  satisfactorily  ministered  to  the  congregation  during  the  absence  of  the 


122  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Rector,  we  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging  and  testifying  the  talent,  zeal, 
piety,  and  discretion  uniformly  manifested  by  him  in  the  discliarge  of 
the  duties  of  this  i)arish,  in  which  testimony  it  is  believed  the  entire  con- 
gi'egation  would  cordially  unite.  He  carries  with  liim  our  sincere  prayers 
that  his  future  service  may  be  eminently  useful  to  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and  that  he  may  personally  enjoy  comfort  and  happiness  here  and  here- 
after and  receive  the  approbatory  salutation,  '  Well  done  thou  good  & 
faithful  seiTant.' 

At  a  meeting  in  the  preceding  June  the  treasurer  had  been  di- 
rected to  pay  to  the  American  Bible  Society  one  hundred  dollars 
for  the  purpose  of  making  the  Rev.  M.  H.  Henderson  a  life  member 
as  a  testimonial  of  regard,  which  mark  of  appreciation  and  honor 
Mr.  Henderson  gratefully  accepted. 

Before  the  Rector's  return  the  lamented  death  of  Bishop  Hobart 
occurred,  September  12,  1830,  and  the  Vestry,  with  a  view  of  mani- 
festing in  a  small  degree  their  regard  for  his  memory,  voted  to 
clothe  the  pulpit,  desk,  etc.,  in  mourning  and  to  attend  his  funeral. 

That  the  closing  months  of  Bishop  Hobart 's  life  should  have  been 
marred  and  clouded  by  a  most  unhappy  controversy  with  the  Rector 
of  St.  George's  is  occasion  for  the  most  profound  regret.  It  would 
never  have  occurred  had  the  Bishop  been  more  mindful  of  the  ac- 
cepted truth  that,  while  a  man  should  be  held  strictly  responsible  for 
his  public  utterances,  he  is  not  responsible  for  the  perversions  or 
distortions  of  them  which  a  reporter,  through  carelessness  or  in- 
capacity, may  publish  in  his  name.  The  difficulty  arose  from  an  in- 
correct report  of  what  Doctor  Milnor  actually  said  in  his  London 
address  before  the  Prayer-Book  and  Homily  Society.  The  news- 
paper report  on  reaching  New  York  was  viewed  by  Bishop  Hobart 
and  his  friends  as  reflecting  upon  him  as  the  advocate  of  a  pro- 
posal, before  the  General  Convention,  to  permit  occasional  shorten- 
ing of  the  morning  and  evening  prayer.  The  ferment  in  New  Y'"ork 
was  great  on  the  appearance  of  a  letter  from  the  Bishop  published 
in  the  Commercial  Advertiser,  dated  June  23d  and  addressed  to 
Doctor  Milnor.  But  there  was  no  occasion  to  protest  against  the 
saying  of  what  had  not  been  said.  Of  the  commotion  in  New  York 
Doctor  Milnor  was  meanwhile  in  utter  ignorance.  When  he  reached 
London  on  his  way  home,  letters  and  papers  awaiting  him  gave 
the  first  painful  intimation  of  conditions  there.  A  controversy  had 
sprung  up  in  the  columns  of  the  same  local  paper  between  anony- 
mous writers,  well  understood  to  be  the  Rev.  Dr.  G.  T.  Bedell  and 
Bishop  Hobart  himself.  The  former  pointed  out  that  the  report 
of  Doctor  Milnor 's  London  address  was  in  all  probability  not  only 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  123 

imperfect,  but  also  incorrect,  and  the  latter  not  only  justifying  the 
Bishop's  published  letter,  but  placing  the  conduct  of  the  absent 
Eector  of  St.  George's  in  a  yet  more  opprobrious  light.  A  few 
paragraphs  from  Doctor  Milnor's  journal  at  this  time  may  suffice 
to  evidence  his  hurt  and  indignant  feelings: 

That  I  had  no  intention  to  reflect,  in  the  most  distant  manner,  on  the 
character  of  Bishop  Hobart,  is  as  certain  as  that  I  exist.  When  I  made 
the  observations  which  had  reference  to  him,  I  had  as  friendly  feelings 
towards  him  as  I  ever  entertained;  nay,  I  felt  under  obUgations  to  him 
for  his  kindness  in  giving  me  letters  of  introduction,  and  other  e\ddences 
of  friendship,  on  the  eve  of  my  departure  from  New  York.  I  had  spoken 
gi'atefully  of  his  attentions;  and  instead  of  intending  to  be  his  calumniator, 
had  had  frequent  occasions  to  be  his  apologist  in  relation  to  the  sermon 
which  he  preached  on  his  return  from  England,  and  which  has  given  offence 
to  people  of  all  opinions  in  the  English  Church. 

I  well  remember  having  seen  the  incorrect  report  in  The  Record,  soon 
after  it  appeared,  and  to  have  been  grieved  at  its  unfaithfulness;  but  as 
all  the  speeches  were  miserably  reported,  correction  would  have  been  an 
endless  and  an  impossible  task.  In  resi^eet  to  this  one,  had  I  anticipated 
the  hasty  sensitiveness  of  Bishop  Hobart,  I  might  have  made  the  attempt; 
but  I  thought  of  no  such  thing. 

From  the  time  when  I  received  the  Commercial  Advertiser,  containing 
Bishop  Hobart's  letter,  I  inquired,  in  every  city  and  town  through  which 
I  passed,  where  I  supposed  it  likely  to  be  procured,  for  '  the  Christian 
Register,'  the  official  reporter  of  the  societies,  but  was  unable  to  obtain  a 
copy  until  the  last  day  of  my  visit  in  Edinburgh.  My  subsequent  move- 
ments were  too  rapid  to  allow  me  to  sit  down  and  i^rej^are  a  reply,  until 
I  reached  Sheffield. 

That  the  report  of  his  address  was  grossly  incorrect  and  that, 
further,  no  unfavorable  impression  of  Bishop  Hobart  had  been  pro- 
duced by  it  in  England  is  attested  by  the  following  letter  from 
the  secretary  of  the  Prayer-Book  and  Homily  Society: 

Rev.  and  deae  Sir — I  regret  much  that  some  things  which  you  said 
at  our  annual  meeting,  as  stated  in  The  Record,  seem  to  have  been  mis- 
understood. In  reference  to  the  report  made  in  The  Record,  I  have  only 
to  state  that  it  was  so  full  of  the  most  palpable  blunders — blunders  which 
had  the  effect  of  total  misrepresentation  of  that  which  was  read  as  well 
as  spoken — that,  after  seeing  a  copy  of  the  paper,  I  jDersonally  sent  to 
the  editors  a  refusal,  on  the  part  of  this  society,  to  purchase  any  copies 
for  circulation  by  us.  Over  the  general  circulation  of  that  paper,  I  of 
course  had  no  control;  but  this  is  not  the  first  instance  in  which  a  mistaken 
report  of  that  which  passed  at  our  general  meetings  has  caused  us  un- 
easiness. 

What  you  actually  did  say  was  correctly  reported  by  the  short-hand 
writer  whom  the  society  employed,  and  was  some  time  smce  published  by 
us,  from  his  notes,  in  an  occasional  paper,  of  which  I  have  sent  you  copies. 

I  do  not  know  whether  my  personal  testimony,  in  addition  to  our  official 
report,  wiU  be  of  any  use  in  this  matter;  but  I  can  most  truly  saj',  that 


124  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

your  statement,  when  I  heard  you  make  it,  did  not  produce  the  slightest 
suspicion  in  my  mind,  that  you  intended  in  any  way  to  censure,  or  to 
rellect  u})on  the  bishop,  whoever  he  might  be — for  his  name  was  not 
mentioned,  nor  anything  said  which  might  lead  the  audience  to  conjecture 
what  prelate  was  intended — on  the  contrary,  1  was  led  to  think  that  the 
proposition  made  by  that  bishop  originated  in  the  best  possible  intentions 
and  motives;  and  all  that  your  statement  was  calculated  to  show,  appeared 
to  be  this  one  fact,  namely,  that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  it  is, 
without  any  alteration  whatever,  is  held  in  the  highest  estimation  by  Epis- 
copalians, whether  clergymen  or  laymen,  in  the  United  States. 

I  did  not  hear  of  the  objections  which  had  been  made  to  your  speech, 
till  August  23d.  I  shall  be  truly  glad,  if  the  statement  now  made  shall 
be  of  the  least  use  on  this  occasion.  My  many  engagements  have  pre- 
vented my  addressing  you  earlier,  as  I  intended. 

Believe  me,  dear  sir. 

Yours,  with  sincere  respect, 

Bev.  Doctor  Milnor.  C.  R.  Pritchett,  Secretai-y. 

In  a  letter  to  his  warden,  Mr.  Van  Wagenen,  under  date  London, 
September  6,  1830,  Doctor  Milnor  writes : 

'  How  great  a  matter  a  little  tire  kindleth !'  Guiltless  as  I  was  of  any 
intention  to  wound  the  feelings  of  Bishop  Hobart,  and  remote  as  my 
remarks  were  from  any  tendency  injiu'iously  to  alfect  his  character  or 
feelings,  nothing  could  have  more  surprised  me  than  his  public  letter. 
From  my  inability,  while  travelling,  to  obtain  a  more  correct  published 
account  of  my  speech,  and  unwilling  to  let  my  defence  rest  on  any  mere 
statement  of  my  own,  I  was  unable  to  prepare  my  answer  mitil  just  before 
the  sailing  of  the  last  packet.  It  was  sent  from  Sheffield,  and  I  hope 
will  be  esteemed  by  the  public,  if  not  by  the  bishop,  entii'ely  satisfactory. 

The  following  is  the  reply  referred  to : 

Sheffield,  England,  August  27,  1830. 

Rt.  Rev.  and  dear  Sir — I  have  but  recently  seen,  in  the  Commercial 
Advertiser  of  the  25th  of  June  last,  the  letter  which  I  exceedingly  regret 
you  felt  yourself  under  the  necessity  of  addressing  to  me  in  so  unusual 
a  way.  If  the  topic  to  which  it  refers  could  have  been  made  a  matter 
of  personal  explanation,  or  its  notice  been  delayed  until  it  was  ascertained 
whether  the  report  of  my  address  before  the  Prayer-Book  and  Homily 
Society  of  England,  at  its  late  anniversary,  which  you  have  used  as  the 
basis  of  your  animadversions,  was  correct,  I  think  you  would  have  been 
satisfied  that  I  neither  intended  you  the  slightest  injui-y  or  disrespect,  nor 
made  any  remarks,  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  having  a  tendency  to  pro- 
duce such  an  effect.  To  arraign  your  attacliment  to  the  liturgy,  would  be 
to  assail  you  in  a  point  where  you  are  invulnerable;  and  the  folly  of  such 
an  'act  would,  in  the  present  instance,  only  have  been  exceeded,  if  done 
by  me,  by  its  ingratitude;  for  I  have  no  hesitation  to  acknowledge,  in  this 
public  manner,  what  I  have  done  repeatedly  in  private  since  my  arrival 
in  England,  the  singular  acts  of  kindness  on  your  part,  which  distinguished 
our  last  hours  of  intercourse  in  New  York. 

I  confess,  I  consider  myself  as  having  reason  to  complain  that  the 
miserable  report  of  my  address  from  which  you  have  cjuoted,  with  such 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  125 

manifest  evidences  of  incon-ectness  as  are  apparent  on  its  face,  should 
have  been  so  far  credited  as  to  be  made  the  foundation  of  yoiu-  letter,  or 
to  have  occasioned  you  a  moment's  uneasiness.  One  would  have  thought, 
were  there  no  disposition  to  put  a  harsh  construction  on  my  conduct,  and 
this  I  am  unwilling  to  suppose,  that,  without  giving  me  any  credit  either 
for  the  possession  of  vei-y  accurate  information  in  church  affairs,  or  a 
desire  to  report  truly  in  relation  to  them,  it  would  not  have  been  believed 
that  I  could  have  forgotten  tlie  name  of  our  highest  ecclesiastical  legis- 
lature, or  the  character  of  the  proposed  alterations  in  the  liturgy,  so  as 
to  have  expressed  myself  in  tlie  bungling  manner  attributed  to  me  by  the 
reporter.  In  the  remarks  actually  made  by  me,  I  am  perfectly  confident, 
not  a  word  dropped  from  me  that  was  either  intended  or  calculated  to 
make  any  unfavorable  impression  in  regard  to  your  attachment  to  the 
Church  and  its  liturgy,  of  which  neither  I  nor  any  other  person  ever 
entertained  a  doubt.  My  single  object,  in  referring  to  the  subject  of  the 
projoosed  alterations  at  all,  was,  to  do  honor  to  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  in  the  matter  of  its  attachment  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
by  exhibiting  the  unanimity  of  the  disinclination  of  its  bishops,  ministers, 
and  people,  to  any  change  in  the  order  of  the  public  services  which  it 
prescribes.  In  doing  this,  I  am  persuaded  I  did  not  impress  an  mdividual 
present  with  the  idea  that  you  formed  an  exception,  in  this  respect,  to 
the  whole  body;  and  much  less  could  any  one  have  supposed  me  to  intend 
the  disrespect  and  vulgarity,  as  well  as  the  obvious  falsehood  and  injustice 
of  representing  you  as  a  '  daring  innovator,'  who  would  '  with  a  rude  hand 
have  marred  the  beauty  of  the  liturgy,'  or  of  arrogating  to  myself  any 
agency  whatever  in  the  prevention  of  such  an  attempt. 

I  thank  you  for  acknowledging  your  unwillingness  to  believe  that  it  was 
my  '  deliberate  desig-n  to  produce  these  impressions.'  I  add  to  this  con- 
cession the  assurance,  on  my  part,  that  it  was  as  little  my  design  at  the 
moment. 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  that  the  haste  with  which  the  newspaper  reports 
of  the  addresses  delivered  at  the  religious  anniversaries  in  London  are 
published,  should  render  them  such  imperfect  representations  of  what  is 
actually  said.  I  have,  however,  no  more  reason  to  complain  of  this  than 
others;  for  scarcely  an  address,  heard  by  me,  was  reported  with  any  meas- 
ure of  fidelity.  In  part,  undoubtedly,  this  arises  from  the  necessity  of 
condensation,  but  more  frequently'  from  the  incapacity  or  inattention  of 
the  editorial  reporters,  or  the  hurry  with  which  they  are  obliged  to  write 
out  their  notes  for  the  press, 

I  have,  I  believe,  a  pretty  exact  recollection  of  the  terms  in  which  I 
expressed  myself;  but  I  wish  not  to  incur  even  the  suspicion  of  making 
a  too  favorable  report  of  them  by  any  statement  of  my  own,  I  therefore 
subjoin  an  extract  from  The  Christian  Register,  a  miscellany  which  gives 
a  more  correct,  though  very  condensed  report  of  the  addresses  made  at  the 
principal  anniversaries.  This  report  of  my  address  is  defective  in  its 
want  of  fulness.  My  remarks  were  still  more  guarded  against  the  pos- 
sibility of  conveying  such  an  impression  as  I  regret  to  find  has  been 
produced  on  your  mind.  I  copy,  verbatim.,  all  that  the  Register  reports 
me  to  have  said  in  relation  to  the  subject  of  your  letter. 

'  The  Rev.  Doctor  Milnor  of  New  York,  after  some  preliminaiy  remarks, 
observed  that  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  of  which  he  was  a  minister,  was  sincerely  attached  to  the  liturgy 


126  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

and  services  which  they  derived  from  the  Church  of  England,  and  in 
which  they  had  made  few  alterations,  except  such  as  were  requisite  to 
adapt  them  to  the  varied  circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed.  An 
evidence  of  the  attachment  of  both  clergy  and  laity  to  their  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  had  recently  occurred.  At  a  General  Convention,  held  four 
years  ago,  it  was  proposed  to  allow  certain  discretionary  powers  to  the 
elergj^,  in  the  abridgment  of  particular  parts  of  the  service.  The  proposi- 
tion was  laid  over  for  consideration  at  the  next  triennial  Convention,  wliich 
was  held  in  August  last.  But  so  general  was  the  disapprobation  of  any 
intrenchment  on  our  venerable  forms  of  devotion,  that  the  proposition  was 
withdrawn  by  the  highly  respectable  prelate  who  was  its  author.  The 
proposition  had,  no  doubt,  been  made  from  the  i^urest  motives,  and  from 
an  imjiression,  arising  out  of  certain  differences  of  opinion,  that  it  was 
desired  by  a  part  of  the  clergy.  But  even  those  for  whose  accommodation 
the  measure  was  supposed  to  be  intended,  were  averse  to  any  change,  and 
the  American  Prayer-Book  remains  as  it  was  established  a  few  years  after 
the  declaration  of  independence.' 

With  this  extract,  I  leave  the  matter  before  you  and  the  public,  with 
an  earnest  hope  of  standing  acquitted  both  by  them  and  you,  as  I  do  by 
my  own  conscience,  of  having  said  anything  in  the  speech  referred  to, 
designed  or  calculated  to  offend. 

With  respect  to  ray  own  attachment  to  the  liturgy,  I  repeat  what,  in 
substance,  I  said  before  the  Prayer-Book  and  Homily  Society  in  London, 
that  a  persuasion  of  its  excellence  had  no  little  influence  in  leading  me 
to  unite  myself  with  the  Episcopal  Church;  and  that,  in  my  own  estima- 
tion, no  part  of  my  subsequent  conduct  has  been  inconsistent  with  this 
profession :  but  at  no  time  has  my  regard  to  the  prescribed  public  service 
led  me  to  suppose  the  use  of  extemporaneous  prayer  to  be  either  unlawful 
or  inexi^edient,  on  many  occasions  when  a  liturgical  form  is  not  enjoined; 
and  I  made  this  express  qualifleation  of  my  eulogy  in  the  address  referred 
to.  It  [extemporaneous  prayer]  is  used  by  many  clergymen  of  great  re- 
spectability and  piety,  both  in  England  and  America,  even  after  their 
sermons  in  church.  This  is  not  my  practice.  '  In  what  is  called  my  lecture- 
room,'  I  do  use  a  prayer  of  this  description,  not  before,  as  would  be  in- 
ferred to  be  the  fact  from  the  statement  given  in  your  letter,  but  after 
lecture ;  a  practice  in  which  I  do  not  differ  from  a  large  body  of  those 
whom  I  esteem  as  among  the  most  devoted  and  useful  ministers  of  the 
Church".  Neither  am  I  more  singular  in  the  use  of  a  selection  from  the 
liturgy  before  lecture,  on  the  occasion  just  mentioned,  instead  of  reading 
the  whole  evening  sein-ice;  a  practice  in  which  I  have  had  the  example 
of  many  of  tlie  brethren  of  my  own  order  in  the  ministry,  and  some  of 
yours,  but  which  they  and  T  will,  no  doubt,  be  willing  to  discontinue, 
whenever  we  are  convinced  that  it  is  inconsistent  with  a  rational  attach- 
ment to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  or  to  our  duty  and  obligations  as 
ministers  of  the  Church. 

In  conclusion,  Right  Rev.  and  dear  Sir,  I  have  only  to  repeat  my  gi'eat 
regret  that  the  incorrect  report  of  my  remarks  should,  in  your  view,  have 
made  it  necessary  to  bring  me  in  so  painful  a  manner  before  the  public; 
and  it  will  be  much  increased  if  your  unfavorable  impressions  are  not 
removed  by  the  explanation  now  given.  For  your  kind  expressions  towards 
me  personally,  I  return  you  my  unaffected  acknowledgTnents,  and  smcerely 
reciprocate  them.     However  we  may  differ  in  matters  of  policy — I  would 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  127 

hope  not  of  principle  —  I  retain  a  pleasing  recollection  of  our  early 
friendship,  and  a  lively  sense  of  the  evidences  which  you  gave  me  of  its 
continuance  when  I  was  about  leaving  home.  If  I  cannot,  with  sincerity, 
express  my  coincidence  with  all  your  views,  I  can  admire  the  talents  which 
have  raised  you  to  your  present  elevated  station ;  and  if  a  witness  were 
wanting  to  jour  consistent  and  undeviating  attachment  to  the  Church  and 
her  Liturgy,  my  testimony  in  your  favor  would  be  jDrompt  and  unqualified. 
I  remain,  Right  Rev.  and  dear  Sir, 

With  great  resj^ect  and  regard. 

Your  faithful  i^resbyter,  and  obed't  sei'v't, 

James  Milnor. 

As  on  the  29th  of  August,  only  two  days  after  the  date  of  this 
letter,  Bishop  Hobart  was  in  the  western  part  of  his  diocese  in- 
stituting the  Rev.  Henry  J.  "Whitehouse  as  Rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Rochester,  his  memorable  sermon  on  which  occasion  being 
his  last  public  utterance,  he  passed  from  the  scene  of  his  abundant 
and  priceless  labors  for  the  Church  of  his  love  without  knowledge  of 
these  statements  and  assurances  of  his  distinguished  presbyter.  His 
lamented  death  occurred  at  Auburn  within  two  weeks.  As  an  inter- 
esting witness  to  the  friendly  personal  relations  between  these  men 
of  such  differing  views  and  characters  a  letter  of  Doctor  Milnor 
to  an  unnamed  correspondent,  on  the  occasion  of  Bishop  Hobart 's 
return  from  a  European  trip  in  October,  1825,  is  here  recorded: 

My  dear  Friend — Before  this  reaches  you,  you  will  probably  have  heard 
of  the  return  of  Bishop  Hobart.  The  clerg}'  attended  him  yesterday  at 
St.  John's,  to  return  thanks  for  the  goodness  of  Almighty  God  in  restor- 
ing him  to  his  diocese  and  family.  I  never  saw  him  when  he  looked  better, 
though  he  says  lie  is  still  subject  to  attacks  of  dyspepsy.  He  made  a  very 
feeling  address  to  us  in  the  vestry-room;  in  which  he  declared  that  he 
came  home  with  the  liveliest  feelings  of  affection  towards  all  his  brethren; 
that  he  was  sensible  of  his  infirmities,  and  besought  for  them  the  in- 
dulgence of  his  friends;  that  he  would  at  all  times  be  ready  to  receive 
counsel  from  them;  and  that,  whatever  might  have  been,  or  might  still 
be,  his  errors,  he  trusted  those  who  most  differed  fi'om  him  would  not 
impute  to  him  other  than  pure  and  disinterested  motives.  Nothing  could 
be  more  conciliatory  or  affectionate  than  hi?  demeanor  towards  myself; 
nor  could  congratulations  be  warmer  than  those  which  he  expressed  on  my 
merciful  preservation  last  winter.  I  am  to  dine  with  him  on  Monday  next, 
and  he  with  me  on  the  following  Thursday. 

I  mention  these  things  as  a  source  of  gratification,  because  indicative 
of  an  enlargement  of  views  on  the  part  of  Bishop  Hobart,  which  he  has 
acquired  by  his  general  intercourse  during  the  last  two  years,  and  wliich, 
if  maintained,  will  greatly  contribute  to  his  own  peace  of  mind  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  Church.  I  have  ever  entertained  a  warm  personal  friend- 
ship for  the  bishop,  with  whom  I  have  been  intimate  for  at  least  five- 
and-thirty  years;  but  I  have  ever  regi-etted  his  intolerant  views,  and  de- 
termined, at  all  hazards,  to  maintain  my  own  convictions  upon  religion  and 


128  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

church  politics,  until  convinced  of  their  error.  I  do  trust  in  God,  he  will 
see  the  necessity  of  allowing  to  others  a  liberty  which  he  so  largely  claims 
for  himself;  and  then,  with  a  very  considerable  diversity  of  opinion, 
harmony  and  Christian  love  may  be  maintained.  I  am  persuaded  that 
firmness,  united  with  moderation  and  meekness,  on  the  part  of  those  who 
wish  to  see  our  Church  not  only  advancing  in  outward  prosperity,  but 
growing  in  evangelical  purity  and  attachment  to  the  distinguishing  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  will,  in  the  end,  be  blessed  of  God;  and  that,  when 
our  opponents  shall  be  convinced  that  we  have  no  personal  objects  in 
view,  and  are  under  the  influence  neither  of  fanaticism  nor  of  party  spirit, 
they  will  feel  more  charitably  disposed  towards  us,  and  aj^proximate  more 
nearly  that  course  of  sentiment  and  of  action  wliich  the  providence  of  God 
is  now  so  manifestly  forwarding  within  the  limits  of  our  Church. 

The  sympathy  and  co-operation  shown  by  St.  George's,  and  its 
Rectors  toward  the  so-called  Union  Societies,  was  a  standing  rock 
of  offense  to  the  growing  party  in  the  Church  which  would  keep 
clear  and  distinct  the  lines  of  division  between  it  and  other  Christian 
bodies.  It  is  hard  to  realize  in  our  happier  time  the  hostility  and 
obloquy  which  in  those  days  of  bitter  partisanship  were  visited  upon 
those  who  maintained  their  privilege  and  right  to  affiliate  with 
Christians  of  other  names  in  such  practical  work  as  the  circulation 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  of  non-sectarian  tracts.  But  in  those 
troublous  times,  covered  by  the  Rectorships  of  Doctor  Milnor  and 
Doctor  Tyng,  who  were  recognized  leaders  of  the  Evangelical  Party, 
their  attitude  in  advocacy  of  the  Union  Societies  with  the  cordial, 
moral,  and  financial  support  of  St.  George's  congregation,  was  the 
occasion  of  no  small  part  of  the  disfavor  and  animosity  with  which 
they  were  regarded  by  the  High  Church  party. 

The  American  Bible  Society  was  organized  in  New  York,  May 
11,  1816,  in  order  to  unite  the  unrelated  Bible  societies  already 
existing  in  the  leading  cities  of  the  country  into  one  grand  agency 
for  the  dissemination  of  the  Word  of  God  without  note  or  comment 
throughout  the  world.  Doctor  Milnor  had  been  connected  with  the 
Philadelphia  Bible  Society,  and  upon  his  removal  to  New  York 
naturally  identified  himself  at  once  with  the  central  society  just 
completing  its  organization.  He  filled  successively  the  offices  of 
Domestic  and  of  Foreign  Secretary,  and  it  was  in  this  latter  capacity 
that  he  represented  the  Society  in  London  at  the  great  anniversary 
of  May,  1830.  For  many  years  he  was  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Versions,  whose  duty  was  "  to  examine  and  certify  the  correct- 
ness of  all  the  Scriptures  published  and  circulated  in  various  lan- 
guages at  home  and  abroad  ' ' ;  and  in  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life 
he  was  chairman  of  the   Committee  of  Arrangements   for  Anni- 


THE    MILNOR     PERIOD  129 

versaries,  both  positions  involving  grave  responsibility  and  arduous 
work.  In  the  latter  chairmanship  he  was  succeeded  by  his  suc- 
cessor in  St.  George's,  as  Doctor  Tyng  was  appointed  to  the  posi- 
tion in  1846. 

The  plan  for  the  organization  of  the  American  Tract  Society 
was  submitted  to  Doctor  Milnor  in  his  sick-room  in  1825,  as  he 
was  convalescing  from  a  dangerous  illness,  by  the  Rev.  William  A. 
Hallock,  who  became  its  efficient  and  honored  secretary.  It  was 
founded  upon  the  principle  of  publishing  and  circulating  only 
those  truths  which  all  Evangelical  Christians  unite  in  regarding  as 
vital,  that  is  essential  to  salvation.  Delegates  from  various  tract 
societies  throughout  the  United  States  met  in  New  York,  May  10, 
1825,  with  the  Rector  of  St.  George's  as  chairman,  and  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  a  large  public  meeting  adopted  the  proposed  constitu- 
tion and  elected  officers,  and  the  corner-stone  of  the  Society's  pub- 
lishing-house was  immediately  laid,  toward  whose  erection  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  had  been  subscribed.  Doctor  Milnor  was  made 
chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  and  also  of  the  Publishing 
Committee  and  discharged  the  duties  of  both  positions  with  dis- 
tinguished ability  and  efficiency  until  his  death. 

But  though  stanch  in  maintenance  of  the  union  principle  as  em- 
bodied in  these  two  societies,  the  Rector  and  people  of  St.  George's 
were  not  unmindful  of  their  diocesan  obligations.  Year  after  year 
the  published  records  show  that  liberal  contributions  were  made  to 
the  Episcopal  and  Diocesan  Funds,  to  the  New  York  Missionary 
and  Education  Society,  to  the  New  York  Bible  and  Common  Prayer- 
Book  Society,  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Sunday-school  Union,  and 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Tract  Society,  so  that  it  cannot  be  truly 
said  that  St.  George's  parish  ever  failed  to  accord  support  to 
diocesan  or  general  Church  institutions  while  standing  for  liberty 
to  contribute  to  such  other  general  and  local  objects  as  appealed 
to  their  sympathy  and  approval.  As  indicating  the  disposition  of 
St.  George's  to  co-operate  in  furthering  diocesan  interests,  it  may 
be  noted  that  the  third  annual  report  of  the  New  York  Protestant 
Episcopal  Missionary  Society  (the  original  organization  for  the  sup- 
port of  missionaries  within  the  diocese)  presented  at  the  anniversary 
meeting,  held  in  Trinity  Church,  December  7,  1819,  includes  this 
statement : 

The  Board  therefore  deemed  it  expedient  to  appoint  a  committee  to  make 
arrangements  for  having  a  sermon  and  collection  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Society,  both  as  it  respected  the  augmentation  of  its  funds  and  its  more 
particular  introduction  to  the  favorable  notice  of  their  fellow  Episco- 
palians.    Accordingly,   with   the   consent   of   the   Rector   of   St.    George's 


130  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Church,  in  this  city,  a  sermon  to  be  preached  by  him  and  a  collection  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Society,  were  appointed  in  that  Churcli  on  Sunday 
evening,  the  20th  of  December  last.  To  excite  a  higher  degree  of  interest, 
and  thus  to  insure  a  crowded  audience,  they  addressed  and  distributed 
nearly  five  hundred  printed  invitations  to  respected  families. 

The  sermon  was  preached  by  Doctor  Milnor  and  its  effectiveness 
attested  by  a  collection  for  the  Society  amounting  to  five  hundred 
and  five  dollars.  At  tlie  annual  meeting  of  the  same  Society  in 
1826,  it  was  reported  that  "  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church 
had  given  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  making  their 
Rector,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Milnor,  a  director  for  life  ' ' ;  and  the 
treasurer  in  January,  1828,  reported  a  collection  from  St.  George's 
of  $101.37.  When  a  project  for  the  relief  of  the  disabled  clergy 
came  up  in  the  diocesan  convention  of  1829,  it  was  resolved  to  es- 
tablish a  "  Clerical  Annuity  Society,"  and  a  committee  of  which 
the  Rector  of  St.  George's  was  a  member  was  appointed  with  power 
to  organize  such  a  society.  When  the  Onderdonk  reprint  of  certain 
diocesan  journals  was  ordered,  St.  George's  subscribed  for  five  copies 
at  five  dollars  each. 

It  was  not  long  after  his  return  from  Europe  that  the  Rector 
of  St.  George's  was  able  to  rejoice  over  improved  spiritual  condi- 
tions in  his  parish  and  was  permitted  to  gather  in  some  satisfying 
fruits  of  his  labors.    To  a  clerical  friend  he  wrote,  April  8,  1831 :    ■ 

You  have,  of  course,  heard  of  the  encouraging  state  of  religious  affairs 
in  New  York.  A  time  of  deeper  solemnity,  in  many  congregations,  has 
never  been  known.  Among  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Reformed  Dutch, 
and  Baptists,  conversions  have  been  vei-y  numerous,  and  new  eases  are 
every  day  oceuiTing;  the  greater  part  from  among  the  youth,  but  many 
from  the  ranks  of  aged  and  apparently  incorrigible  sinners.  In  Doctor 
Lyell's  congregation  there  is  more  attention  than  usual.  In  Mr.  Mcllvaine's, 
Brooklyn,  much  interest  prevails;  and  he  has  the  prospect  of  a  large 
addition  to  the  number  of  his  communicants.  To  my  own  list,  thirty-five 
were  added  on  Easter  Sunday;  and  the  whole  number  who  communicated 
on  that  delightful  day  exceeded  four  hundred — the  largest  number  to 
whom  I  have  ever  been  permitted  to  administer  the  symbols  of  a  dying^ 
Saviour's  love.  The  interest  still  continues;  and  I  am  looking,  alas,  with 
too  small  a  measure  of  faith,  for  its  increase. 

The  increased  blessing  came,  for  in  the  following  fall  he  was  able 
to  report  to  the  Diocesan  Convention  an  addition  of  seventy-seven 
to  his  list  of  communicants,  while  the  number  of  baptisms  reported 
for  that  year,  including  very  many  adults,  was  one  hundred  and 
three. 

As  a  witness  to  the  character  of  Doctor  Milnor 's  spiritual  teaching 
the  Rev.  Doctor  William  Sparrow  may  be  quoted.    He  was  the  first 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  131 

incumbent  of  the  Milnor  Professorship  at  Gambier  and  resigned  to 
begin  what  proved  to  be  a  very  long  and  distinguished  career  as 
Divinity  Professor  in  the  Alexandria  Seminary.  In  his  letter  of 
resignation,  dated  December  17,  1840,  addressed  to  Doctor  Milnor, 
he  wrote : 

This,  however,  I  think  I  may  say  to  you,  that  during  eleven  years'  duty 
in  this  station,  T  have  never  seen  occasion  to  depart  in  the  least  from  the 
spirit  of  those  instructions  which,  when  a  lonely  student  in  New  York,  I 
used  to  seek  in  the  lecture-room  of  St.  George's  on  week-day  evening's. 
May  they  as  certainly  carry  me,  through  infinite  grace  and  mercy,  to  the 
inheritance  which  I  seek  above,  as  I  have  endeavored  to  inculcate  them  on 
the  minds  committed  to  my  care. 

The  City  Mission  Society  was  organized,  September  29,  1831,  in 
the  basement  of  Christ  Church  by  representatives  of  the  city  par- 
ishes, being  subsequently  incorporated  April,  1833,  under  the  title 
"  New  York  Protestant  Episcopal  City  Mission  Society."  The 
Rector  of  St.  George's  and  four  laymen  of  that  Church  were  in- 
cluded in  the  Board  of  Managers.  It  being  desired  to  begin  at  once 
the  work  of  Church  extension,  and  a  building  in  Vandewater  Street 
between  Pearl  and  Frankfort  used  as  a  Reformed  Dutch  place  of 
worship  being  offered  for  sale  on  reasonable  terms,  it  was  proposed 
to  solicit  subscriptions  at  once  and  purchase  it.  Tlie  Vestry  of  St. 
George 's,  however,  promptly  adopted  the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  Rector  and  the  managers  of  said  city 
mission  society,  chosen  out  of  this  congregation,  be  requested  respectfully 
to  urge  upon  that  body  the  inexpediency  of  the  said  measure. 

First,  because  it  is  deemed  to  be  an  unsuitable  location  for  a  mission 
church,  it  being  situated  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  St.  George's  Church, 
and  in  the  midst  of  a  large  body  of  the  stated  attendents  on  that  Church, 
and 

Secondly,  because  independently  of  its  probable  interference  with  St. 
George's  Church,  the  obscure  site  of  the  building  in  Vandewater  Street, 
the  character  of  the  population  around  and  near  it,  and  the  far  greater 
destitution  of  the  means  of  giace  in  the  more  distant  part  of  the  eastern 
portion  of  the  city,  would,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Vestry,  point  to  the 
vicinity  of  Pike  Street,  or  some  location  thereabouts,  as  much  more  eligible 
for  the  operations  of  the  city  mission  than  the  one  proposed. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  event  of  the  managers  of  the  city  mission  selecting, 
instead  of  Vandewater  Street,  some  such  situation  as  that  above  suggested,, 
this  Vestry,  as  an  evidence  of  its  sincere  approval  of  the  objects  of  that 
laudable  institution,  will  in  addition  to  any  sums  which  may  be  contributed 
for  the  erection  of  a  free  church  by  the  members  of  the  congregation  ap- 
propriate out  of  the  funds  of  St.  George's  Church  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
dollars  to  the  same,  to  be  paid  in  four  annual  instalments  of  two  hundredl 
and  fiftv  dollars  each. 


132  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Notwithstanding  this  protest,  however,  and  the  generous  offer  of 
St.  George's  Vestry,  the  buikling  was  purchased  and  on  November 
19th  was  consecrated  by  the  Bishop  under  the  name  of  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Evangelists. 

The  summer  of  1832  was  a  gloomy  time  for  New  York  through 
the  ravages  of  Asiatic  cholera.  This  dreadful  scourge  was  brought 
to  Canada  by  a  vessel  filled  with  Irish  emigrants  bound  for  Quebec, 
many  of  whom  died  on  the  passage.  From  Quebec  it  spread  with 
appalling  rapidity  to  other  Canadian  cities  and  reached  New  York 
by  way  of  the  Hudson  River,  despite  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the 
Board  of  Health  to  avert  the  threatened  disaster.  The  first  case 
developed  on  Cherry  Street  June  25th  and  more  cases  were  daily 
reported.  Large  temporary  hospitals  were  at  once  established  and 
medical  stations  for  free  treatment  were  opened  at  convenient 
points.  All  who  could  leave  the  city  promptly  fled  to  the  seaside  or 
the  mountains. '  Bishop  Onderdonk,  at  the  very  outbreak  of  danger, 
had  set  forth  special  prayers  for  use  in  the  diocese,  with  a  pastoral 
"  affectionately  urging  that  improvement  which  Christian  people 
should  make  of  the  impending  judgment  of  God."  The  Common 
Council,  in  response  to  a  memorial  of  three  hundred  leading  citizens, 
designated  August  3d  "  as  a  day  of  fasting,  humiliation,  and 
prayer,"  while  the  Mayor  issued  a  proclamation  recommending  to 
all  inhabitants  of  the  city  "  a  due  observance  of  the  day  so  desig- 
nated as  a  day  of  supplication  to  Almighty  God  that  He  will  of 
His  infinite  mercy  be  pleased  to  remove  from  us  this  frightful 
sickness  and  speedily  deliver  our  country  from  similar  calamities." 
The  day  was  generally  observed  and  the  Neiv  York  Spectator  of 
August  6th  records:  "  There  was  a  manifest  exhibition  of  sobriety 
and  solemnity  of  demeanor  in  the  people,  and  the  churches  were 
well  attended,  considering  the  number  which  are  absent  from  the 
city,  constituting  a  decided  majority  of  the  Church  -  going  com- 
munity." In  some  of  the  churches,  including  St.  George's,  col- 
lections were  made  "  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  constrained 
to  look  for  the  support  of  existence  at  this  juncture  to  the  benevo- 
lence of  their  fellow-citizens." 

During  all  the  horrors  of  that  wasting  scourge  the  Rector  of  St. 
George's  remained  at  his  post  and  continued  his  ministries  among 
the  living  and  the  dead.  Under  date  of  August  6th,  he  wrote  to 
his  son  in  Philadelphia : 

Yesterday  I  ofTieiated  twice  in  St.  Georsfe's,  and,  with  the  advice  of  my 
Vestry,  gave  notice  that  the  Church  will  be  closed  for  the  remainder  of  the 
month.     Probably  two-thirds  or  tlu-ee-fourths  of  the  congi-esation  are  ab- 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  133 

sent  from  the  city;  and  as  this  is  about  the  time  of  our  annual  cleaning, 
it  was  thought  best  to  close  for  that  purpose. 

I  would  now  willingly  give  the  family  a  little  countiy  air,  but  there 
is  gTeat  difficulty  in  knowing  where  to  go  with  safety,  and  at  the_  same 
time  have  a  favorable  reception.  We  must  inquire  and  deterrnine,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  days,  whether  to  remain  or  go.  I  must  be  principally  at 
my  post. 

After  raging  for  ten  weeks  the  epidemic  gradually  disappeared. 
Contemporary  records  show  that  there  were  reported  5,835  cases 
and  2,996  deaths. 

The  operations  of  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
at  Green  Bay  in  Michigan  Territory  having  become  embarrassed, 
the  board  of  directors  appointed  Doctor  Milnor  and  Doctor  Jackson 
Kemper  to  visit  and  report  upon  the  condition  of  affairs.  The 
choice  could  not  have  been  happier  than  that  which  selected  Doctor 
Milnor  for  a  mission  which  demanded  discriminating  judgment, 
trained  business  capacity,  and  unfailing  tact.  The  Vestry  gave  their 
cordial  assent  to  his  absence  from  the  parish  for  this  special  work, 
and  the  Rev.  Marshall  Whiting  officiated  meanwhile  in  St.  George 's. 
The  westward  journey  was  begun  July  3,  1834.  The  carefully  de- 
tailed report  of  the  commissioners  is  on  record  in  the  archives  of 
the  Missionary  Society. 

The  honorable  distinction  of  being  a  congregation  imbued  with 
the  distinctive  missionary  spirit  belongs  to  St.  George's  in  a  signal 
degree.  Whether  in  its  earliest  ministries  of  going  forth  to  gather 
in  the  children  and  adults,  white  and  black,  into  its  six  Sunday- 
schools;  or  in  its  cordial  and  generous  co-operation  with  others  in 
city  mission  work  and  in  support  of  diocesan  missions ;  or  further 
in  the  intelligent  sympathy  and  liberal  gifts  which  it  has  always 
accorded  to  the  great  missionary  work  of  the  Church  at  home  and 
abroad ;  or  in  the  superadded  notable  expression  of  its  missionary 
zeal  applied  through  modern  methods  and  in  changed  conditions  to 
the  various  needs  of  men,  St.  George's  has  ever  stood  in  the  front 
rank  of  advocates  and  exponents  of  the  missionary  principle  in  its 
practical  applications. 

When  it  was  happily  discovered  and  announced  at  the  memorable 
General  Convention  of  1835  that  '*  the  Field  is  the  World,"  a  new 
departure  was  joyfully  hailed  by  all  the  friends  of  missions,  as  it 
was  declared  that  "  the  Church  is  the  Missionary  Society  "  of 
which  every  baptized  person  is  a  member.  It  is  of  interest  to  know 
that  this  idea  was  first  broached  by  the  Eector  of  St.  George's. 
A  committee  to  consider  the  question  of  the  organization  of  the 


134  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  had  been  appointed  by 
the  old  Board  of  Directors,  consisting  of  Bishops  Doane  and 
Mcllvaine,  the  Rev.  Doctors  Mibior,  Henshaw,  Beasley  and  Tyng, 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  John  S.  Stone  and  J.  W.  James  and  Mr.  Alexander 
C.  Magruder.  "  Before  the  commitee  met,"  we  learn  from  Bishop 
Doane  himself  as  stated  in  the  Memoir  of  his  life,  "  the  first  three 
named — Bishop  Doane,  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  and  Doctor  Milnor — came 
casually  together.  '  What  would  you  think,'  said  Doctor  Milnor, 
who  had  moved  the  resolution  for  the  appointment  of  the  com- 
mittee, addressing  Bishop  Doane — '  what  would  you  think  of  report- 
ing that  The  Church  is  the  Missionary  Society  and  should  carry 
on  the  work  of  missions  by  a  board  appointed  by  the  General  Con- 
vention ? '  '  Why, '  replied  Bishop  Doane,  '  it  is  the  very  plan  which 
1  have  long  thought  ought  to  be  adopted  and  for  the  adoption  of 
which  I  should  thank  God  with  my  whole  heart.'  '  How  very 
strange  is  this,'  said  Bishop  Mcllvaine.  '  I  surely  knew  nothing 
of  the  mind  of  either  of  you  and  yet  that  is  the  very  plan  which 
I  have  introduced  into  the  sermon  which  I  am  to  preach  before  the 
society.'  "  When  the  committee  met  the  other  members  cordially 
agreed  on  a  unanimous  report,  and  on  Doctor  Milnor 's  motion  the 
chairman  was  requested  "  to  state  the  principles  of  the  plan  pro- 
posed by  the  committee  and  the  reasons  which  had  led  to  their 
adoption."  The  report  was  received  and  adopted  with  unanimity 
and  enthusiasm,  two  missionary  bishops  were  elected  for  the  north- 
west and  southwest,  respectively,  and  an  impulse  given  to  missionary 
work  which  augured  well  for  its  future.  The  field  was  to  be  divided 
into  two  departments,  the  Foreign  and  the  Domestic,  each  of  which 
was  to  be  in  the  care  of  a  distinct  Executive  Committee,  with  a 
secretary  and  general  agent  and  a  treasurer  for  each. 

There  had  been  little  interest  among  those  known  as  High  Church- 
men for  the  work  among  the  heathen,  and  in  the  division  of  the 
work  into  the  two  departments  it  came  to  be  a  tacit  understand- 
ing that  the  foreign  work  should  be  substantially  committed  to  its 
special  friends  the  Low  Churchmen,  while  the  domestic  field  should 
be  tilled  by  the  High  Church  party.  It  was  an  egregious  mistake, 
and  on  the  part  of  the  Low  Churchmen  an  utterly  fatuous  policy, 
to  turn  over  to  the  advocates  of  opposing  views  the  whole  machinery 
of  sending  out  domestic  missionaries,  estal)lishing  parishes,  and 
building  up  dioceses,  thus  rapidly  insuring  that  preponderance  in 
the  membership  and  councils  of  the  Church  which  that  party  has 
ever  since  enjoyed.  The  inevitable  result  was  that  Evangelical 
Churchmen  came  to  rankle  under  a  sense  of  injustice  in  that,  though 


THE    MII.NOR    PERIOD  135 

their  churches  were  the  largest  contributors,  their  representatives 
were  allowed  but  scant  influence  in  appointing  missionaries  and 
in  direction  of  the  work,  while  their  gifts  were  utilized  in  the  dis- 
semination of  views  to  which  they  had  been  consistently  and  con- 
scientiously opposed;  and  the  American  Church  Missionary  Society 
came  into  being  in  1859  as  a  distinctively  Evangelical  organization, 
of  which  due  mention  will  come  later  in  this  history. 

When  the  new  Board  of  Missions  met  in  Philadelphia,  September 
1,  1835,  the  two  committees  were  elected,  one  to  be  located  in  New 
York  and  the  other  in  Philadelphia.  Wlien  at  a  later  meeting  the 
secretaries  were  chosen,  the  lot  was  found  to  have  fallen  on  the 
Rev.  Benjamin  Dorr  as  secretary  and  general  agent  for  the  Domestic 
Committee  and  on  the  Rev.  Doctor  Milnor  for  the  Foreign  Com- 
mittee. The  former  action  locating  the  Foreign  Committee  in  Phila- 
delphia was  therefore  reconsidered  and  both  committees  were  to 
have  headquarters  in  New  York. 

What  now,  in  view  of  this  election,  was  the  duty  of  the  Rector 
of  St.  George's?  The  choice  was  eminently  fit,  because  not  only 
was  his  heart  aflame  with  missionary  zeal,  but  his  mental  equip- 
ment and  business  capacity  signally  fitted  him  for  the  difficult  and 
exacting  role  of  planning  and  energizing  such  new  methods  as  the 
adoption  of  a  new  system  of  administration  would  demand.  The 
way  in  which  the  Rector  and  his  Vestry  met  the  crisis  is  best  told 
in  their  own  words : 
To  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church. 
Gentlemen  : 

You  are  aware  that  at  the  recent  assemblage  of  the  newly  elected  Board 
of  Missions  of  our  Chui'ch,  I  was  elected  Secretary  and  General  Agent  of 
the  Committee  for  Foreign  Missions.  The  desire  of  some  of  my  brethren 
in  high  stations,  and  of  distinguished  character  in  the  Church,  that  I  should 
be  appointed  to  and  accept  that  office,  had  been  previously  intimated  to 
me,  and  had  uniformly  received  an  answer  unfavorable  to  the  expectation 
of  its  being  practical  for  me  to  comply  with  their  wishes.  Until  im- 
mediately before  the  election,  I  had  supposed  that  my  reasons  for  de- 
clining the  situation  would  have  prevented  my  being  put  in  nomination. 
At  that  time,  however,  it  was  mentioned  to  me,  by  a  resj^ected  brother, 
that  it  was  the  intention  of  some  members  of  the  Board  to  vote  for  me, 
and  an  earnest  wish  was  expressed  that  I  would  not  in  that  stage  of  the 
proceedings  make  any  objection,  but  suiJer  the  election  to  proceed,  even 
if  I  should  take  time  aftei-wards  to  consider  the  question  of  my  accept- 
ance. Several  nominations  were  made  by  different  members,  but  before 
the  final  ballot  all  were  withdrawn  exce])t  my  name  and  that  of  a  reverend 
brother  in  Philadelphia.  I  was  painfully  circumstanced  in  being  thus  held 
up  as  a  competitor  for  an  office  whicli  I  had  not  sought,  and  did  not  desire, 
and  yet  such  considerations  were  urged  upon  me  by  my  friends  as  seemed 
to  make  it  a  duty   not  to   withdraw   my  name.     The   majority   which   at 


136  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

length  was  declared  in  my  favour  was  respectable,  and  several  of  the 
gentlemen  who  had  not  voted  for  me,  afterwards  signified  to  me  their 
satisfaction  with  the  result,  and  their  wish  that  I  should  aecej^t  the  office, 
assigning  reasons  not  necessary  to  be  I'epeated  for  having  pursued  a 
course  apparently  inconsistent  with  their  professions. 

Before  the  final  adjournment  of  the  Board  I  availed  myself  of  an  oppor- 
tunity of  stating  that  I  had  not  consented  to  be  put  in  nomination,  and 
though  T  had  been  restrained  by  the  impoi'tunity  of  my  friends  from  an 
actual  withdrawal  of  my  name,  I  must  not  be  considered  as  now  consent- 
ing to  accept  the  appointment ;  that  the  Board  having  transferred  the 
Committee  to  New  York,  it  was  within  the  compass  of  possibility  that 
some  arrangement  might  be  made  for  a  modified  engagement  in  the  duties 
of  the  office;  that  no  plan,  however,  would  under  any  circumstances  be 
acceded  to  by  me  that  would  involve  a  relinquishment  of  my  parochial 
charge;  and  whether,  with  its  retention,  any  arrangements  could  be  made, 
would  depend  on  my  own  further  consideration  of  the  subject,  and  the 
approval  of  my  Vestry  and  congregation,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Foreign 
Committee;  that  I  would  not  delay  my  decision  longer  than  was  unavoid- 
able, and  would  submit  the  whole  matter  to  my  Vestry  as  soon  as  was 
practicable  after  my  return  from  the  Diocesan  Convention  at  Utica.  From 
that  place  I  arrived  on  Thursday  last,  and  this  meeting  is  held  in  conse- 
quence of  notices  issued  on  the  day  of  my  arrival.  You  will  thus  per- 
ceive, Gentlemen,  that  I  stand  uncommitted,  and  the  question  of  my  ac- 
ceptance of  the  office  will  be  decided  by  your  views  as  to  the  expediency 
of  an  arrangement  allowing  of  my  engaging  in  its  duties,  while  I  at  the 
same  time  retain  my  connection  with  St.  George's  Church.  I  will  state 
the  only  plan  which  has  suggested  itself  to  my  mind,  as  at  all  feasible, 
and  yet  I  submit  it  with  hesitation,  and  beg  to  be  considered  as  by  no 
means  pressing  it,  if  it  be  thought  by  you  inconsistent  with  the  spiritual 
interests  of  the  beloved  people  of  my  charge  or  with  the  prosperity  of 
our  Church.  Suppose  it  were  proposed  to  the  Foreign  Committee  to 
receive  my  accejitance  of  the  office,  with  an  understanding  that  I  should 
be  at  liberty  to  relinquish  it  at  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Missions:  that  in  the  mean  time,  I  decline  all  personal  emoluments  from 
the  ofBce,  but  that  to  enable  me  to  detach  myself  as  much  as  my  agency 
shoidd  require  from  the  duties  of  the  parish,  an  assistant  be  appointed 
for  one  year,  with  an  adequate  salary  (say,  one  thousand  dollars),  this 
sum  to  be  paid  out  of  the  salary  appropriated  to  the  agent  of  the  Foreign 
Committee.  [The  salary  appropriated  was  twenty-three  hundred  dollars.] 
The  residue  of  the  annual  stipend  of  the  agent  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  that 
committee.  It  is  but  fair  and  candid  for  me  to  apprise  you,  that  in  the 
event  of  your  acceding  to  this  arrang'ement  the  duties  of  my  agency  may 
be  expected  to  be  of  a  very  absorbing  nature.  The  office  for  the  trans- 
acting of  business  must  be  an'anged;  the  minutes,  proceeding's,  and  papers 
of  the  late  committee  be  examined,  assorted,  and  put  in  order;  an  ex- 
tensive correspondence  be  foi'thwith  entered  upon;  plans  be  projected  and 
executed  for  widening  the  sphere  of  missionary  operation,  and  means  be 
proposed  for  an  increase  of  pecuniary  resources  proportioned  to  the  noble 
views  of  the  Church,  in  reference  to  the  great  work  of  which  she  has  now 
assumed  the  charge.  Added  to  these  duties,  frequent  absences  from  the 
city  on  missionary  business  will  be  indispensable,  and,  when  at  home, 
personal  attendance  at  the  missionary  rooms  will  be  a  daily  duty.     Under 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  137 

these  eireumstanees  I  wish  you,  Gentlemen,  to  consider  seriously  whether 
for  one  year,  such  a  sacrifice  to  the  interests  of  the  cause  can  be  submitted 
to  by  you,  as  the  representatives,  and  in  behalf  of  our  congregation;  and 
as  I  consider  my  obligations  as  your  jDastor  i3aramount  to  all  others,  I 
hope  you  will  consider  the  question  without  any  reference  to  my  wishes 
or  inclinations  on  the  subject.  If  you  should  on  full  deliberation  be  of 
opinion  that  the  interests  of  religion  in  our  cong:regation  will  be  injuriously 
affected  by  this  arrangement,  I  liope  you  will  without  hesitation  decline 
giving  it  your  sanction,  and  I  will  continue  my  full  duties  as  your  pastor, 
only  giving  a  portion  of  my  time  and  services  to  the  cause  of  missions  as 
a  member  of  the  Foreign  Committee,  and  leaving  it  to  that  Committee 
to  conduct  its  business  for  one  year,  with  as  efficient  a  secretary  as  can 
be  obtained,  and  such  special  temporary  agencies  as  they  may  appoint, 
until  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  next  summer,  when  a  per- 
manent agent  will  no  doubt  be  elected.  If  you  should,  on  the  contrary, 
assent  to  my  engagement  in  the  duties  of  the  agency  in  the  way  above 
suggested,  though  I  feel  a  humble  sense  of  my  insufficiency  for  the  work, 
I  will  enter  upon  it  in  reliance  upon  the  help  of  God,  and  the  assistance 
of  my  brethren,  calculating  upon  a  more  laborious  course  of  mental  and 
bodily  service  than  I  have  ever  yet  known,  and  earnestly  hoping  that  the 
result  may  redound  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom 
of  the  Redeemer.  I  now  refer  the  whole  subject  to  your  decision,  and 
with  i^rayer  for  di\'ine  g-uidance  in  your  deliberations,  will  stand  prepared 
to  acquiesce  in  whatever  course  your  better  judgment  may  determine  to 
be  right. 

I  am  your  obliged  &  affectionate  Pastor 

James  Milnor. 
St.  George's,  Oct.  10th,  1835. 

The  Rector,  having  added  some  verbal  explanations,  withdrew 
from  the  meeting,  and  after  full  discussion  the  action  of  the  Vestry 
took  the  form  of  adopting  unanimously  the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  the  communication  just  read  is  viewed  with  the  liveliest 
sensibility,  and  demands  the  most  serious  and  deliberate  consideration  of 
the  Vestiy. 

It  presents  the  embarrassing  alternative  of  relinquishing  for  a  time  the 
services  of  our  esteemed  pastor,  in  whom  the  congregation  have  so  long 
been  harmoniously  united,  or  of  impeding  or  discouraging  in  a  degree  not 
easily  estimated  a  highly  interesting  and  commendable  enterprise  in  which 
our  venerable  Church  has  embarked  with  unparalleled  unanimity  and  zeal, 
and  from  the  active  and  judicious  prosecution  of  which  results  may  be 
augured  of  the  deepest  concern  to  multitudes  of  our  fellow-men.  Viewing 
the  magnitude  of  this  enterprise  and  the  peculiar  fitness  of  the  selected 
agent  to  arrange  and  put  in  operation  the  wisest  and  most  appropriate  plans 
and  system  to  insure  its  success  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  expecta- 
tions and  resoui'ces  of  tlie  Church,  and  trusting  that  the  interests  of  his 
permanent  and  paramount  charge  may  not  be  materially  prejudiced  by 
a  partial  and  temporary  deprivation  of  his  stated  ser\'ices,  it  would  seem 
to  become  the  duty  of  the  congregation  to  submit  to  the  sacrifice  involved 
in  an  acceptance  of  this  office  by  their  esteemed  Rector. 


138  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Resolved,  That  we  cordially  approve  and  applaud  the  disinterested  ar- 
rangement suggested  by  the  Rector  in  the  event  of  his  undertaking  the 
arduous  duties  of  agent  in  regard  to  the  pecuniary  compensation  appro- 
priated by  the  Board  of  Missions. 

Resolved,  That  if  a  satisfactory  assistant  can  be  obtained  on  the  terms 
intimated,  the  Vestiy  hereby  consent  to,  and  advise  the  acceptance  of  the 
office  which  has  been  tendered  to  the  Rector  for  the  term  of  one  year. 

The  Rector  having  entered  into  correspondence  with  the  Rev. 
James  W.  Cooke,  of  Lonsdale,  Rhode  Island,  on  the  subject,  re- 
ported to  the  Vestry,  October  19,  1835,  that  he  entertained  hopes 
of  his  acceptance  of  the  position,  should  he  be  duly  called  thereto. 
Whereupon  the  Vestry  unanimously  extended  the  call,  which  was 
accepted  by  Mr.  Cooke  by  letter  dated  November  10,  1835,  in  which 
he  wrote : 

If  I  must  sunder  the  tie  that  binds  me  so  strongly  to  those  whom  God 
has  given  me  as  the  fruits  of  my  ministry,  I  know  of  no  Church  or  con- 
gregation, in  the  whole  eountiy  with  which  I  should  more  earnestly  desire 
to  be  associated  and  with  whom  I  expect  to  experience  more  of  spiritual 
enjoyment  than  with  the  Church  and  congregation  of  St.  George's.  I 
was  confirmed  in  your  Church,  while  a  student,  at  the  Seminary,  and  when 
in  the  city,  have  felt  the  atmosphere  of  St.  George's  Church  to  be  most 
congenial  with  my  views  and  feelings.  The  relation  which  I  shall  sustain 
to  your  beloved  Rector  will  be  as  gratifying  to  myself  as  I  trust  it  will 
prove  profitable  to  my  spiritual  Avelfare.  In  most  cases  such  a  relation 
cannot  be  assumed  without  fears  that  it  may  j^rove  in  some  respects  un- 
pleasant, but  in  this  instance,  I  feel  happy  in  the  belief  that  the  sincere 
respect  and  affection  which  I  have  long  cherished  towards  your  pastor 
cannot  fail  to  make  this  relation  both  delightful  and  profitable  to  myself 
during  the  period  of  its  continuance,  and  would  humbly  hope,  with  the 
blessing  of  God,  not  entirely  without  profit  to  others.  The  example  which 
is  held  up  to  other  churches  b,y  the  congregation  of  St.  George's,  in  making 
this  sacrifice  for  the  Missionary  Cause,  should  call  forth  our  warmest 
gratitude  to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  and  I  would  hope.  Gentlemen, 
that  the  same  spirit  which  has  led  you  partially  to  dispense  with  the 
services  of  yoiu-  long-tried  and  beloved  pastor  will  lead  you  also  to  bear 
with  his  unworthy  assistant,  and  to  seek  for  him  in  faitliful  prayer  those 
gifts  which  will  make  his  ministrations  useful  to  tlie  impenitent  and  edify- 
ing to  the  Church. 

The  Committee  for  Foreign  Missions,  under  date  October  27, 
1835,  officially  communicated  to  the  Vestry  the  thanks  of  the  com 
mittee  for  the  Vestry's  ''  liberal  and  disinterested  conduct  in  sur- 
rendering in  part  the  services  of  their  Rector  for  one  year  to  act 
as  Secretary  and  General  Agent  of  this  committee." 

It  was  a  most  laborious  year  to  which  the  Rector  of  St.  George's 
now  addressed  himself.  Efficient  help  was  rendered  him  by  his 
congenial  assistant,  but  there  are  duties  of  a  rectorship  which  can^ 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  139 

not  be  devolved  on  any  one.  The  usual  demands  upon  his  time 
and  energy,  arising  from  responsibilities  of  office  in  the  many  organ- 
izations in  which  he  held  positions,  were  in  no  wise  relaxed.  Into 
the  work  of  the  Foreign  Committee  he  plunged  with  characteristic 
zeal,  imparting  to  the  missionary  management  a  system  and  efficiency 
not  previously  attained.  His  wise  administration  of  affairs  secured 
the  Church's  confidence,  and  the  addresses  which  he  made  on  mis- 
sionary journeys  at  diocesan  and  other  gatherings  diffused  among 
the  clergy  and  the  people  some  measure  of  his  own  ardent  missionary 
spirit.  But  it  all  told  upon  his  health ;  his  nerves  were  overwrought, 
his  strength  was  overtaxed,  and  it  was  clear  that  he  must  make  a 
choice  between  his  rectorship  and  his  official  work  for  missions. 
So  thoroughly  engrossed  had  he  become  in  his  absorbing  secretarial 
duties  that  those  associated  with  him  had  begun  to  indulge  the 
thought  that  he  might  entertain  what  he  had  deemed  at  first  a 
wholly  inadmissible  idea  that  he  should  sever  his  connection  with 
St.  George's  and  make  the  missionary  agency  the  business  of  his 
after-life.  In  view  of  the  necessity  of  some  decision,  the  Rector 
laid  the  matter  at  some  length  before  the  Vestry  for  their  * '  friendly 
counsel  "  in  a  communication  in  which,  after  rehearsing  the  steps 
by  which  with  their  consent  he  had  accepted  the  secretarial  duty,  he 
expressed  the  conviction  that  neither  his  time  of  life  nor  strength 
of  constitution  would  admit  of  his  continuing  to  perform  the  duties 
of  both  offices.     He  then  goes  on  to  say: 

The  conclusion  to  which  my  mind  has  decisively  come  is,  that,  if  I  con- 
tinue to  serve  as  Secretary  and  General  Agent,  I  must  sunder  the  ties 
by  which  I  have  so  long  been  united  to  my  beloved  j^eople.  This,  unless 
it  were  desired  by  them,  I  cannot  consent  to  do.  The  providence  of  God 
directed  me  to  this  sphere  of  duty,  my  humble  labours  He  has  gi^aciously 
blessed.  I  love,  tendei'ly  love,  the  souls  whom  God  has  committed  to 
my  charge.  To  leave  them  would  inflict  a  pang,  the  anguish  of  wliich 
nothing  but  death  could  relieve.  I  should  enter  on  other  duties  with  a 
painful  conviction  that  I  was  doing  so  at  the  exj^ense  of  such  as  I  ought 
to  have  considered  to  have  higher  claims  upon  the  remaining  years  of  my 
life.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  reconcile  such  a  course  with  the  clearest 
impressions  of  duty,  as  a  minister  of  Christ,  and  the  pastor  of  a  con- 
gregation endeared  to  me  by  such  a  series  of  proofs  of  their  respect  and 
love  as  I  feel  I  have  not  deserved,  and  am  therefore  the  more  bound 
to  remember  with  heartfelt  gTatitude,  and  requite  by  the  best  services 
of  which  the  continued  goodness  of  my  Heavenly  Father  may  make  me 
capable.  .  .  . 

The  whole  subject  is  now  before  3^ou.  .  .  .  With  a  sincere   desire  that 
we  may  all  be  guided  to  right  conclusions  acting  in  their  attainment  with 
a  single  eye  to  God's  glory  and  the  best  interests  of  the  Church, 
I  remain  your  affectionate  pastor  &  obli'ged  friend 

James  Milnor. 


140  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  Vestry,  after  full  deliberation,  June  16,  1836,  unanimously 
resolved : 

That  the  communication  from  the  Rector,  just  read,  containing  a  candid 
statement  of  his  embarrassing  situation,  as  Rector  of  this  Church  and 
Secretai-y  and  General  Agent  of  the  Foreign  Committee  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  soHciting  counsel  and 
direction  from  the  Vestry,  presents  a  fair  view  of  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  was  led  to  consult,  and  the  Vestry  to  consent  and  advise,  in  the 
month  of  October  last,  that  he  would  yield  to  the  wishes  of  the  Church 
by  undertaking  the  arduous  duty  of  arranging,  maturing,  and  reducing 
to  practice,  plans  for  the  operations  of  foreign  missions  on  the  enlarged 
and  spirited  scale  which  had  been  recently  pledged. 

In  advising  him  to  that  course,  the  Vestry  were  influenced  by  the  belief, 
that  he  might  render  essential  services  to  the  general  interests  of  religion, 
without  material  interference  with  his  paramount  duties  to  the  congregation, 
or  prejudice  to  his  own  health,  provided  the  new  office  was  seasonably 
relinquished. 

In  the  judgment  of  the  Vestry  at  that  time,  the  extreme  term  for  which 
it  would  be  proper  for  the  Rector  to  enter  into  these  engagements,  with  a 
due  regard  to  the  considerations  last  named,  was  a  single  year;  and  be- 
yond that  term  they  were  then  of  opinion,  and  still  entertain  the  belief, 
that  their  constituents  would  not  be  satisfied  to  make  the  sacrifices  incident 
to  the  arrangement.  It  now  appears,  that  the  year  for  which  the  Rector 
is  committed,  and  to  which  the  Vestry  consented,  will  not  have  been  com- 
pleted at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions;  but  the  Vestry 
fully  concur  with  the  Rector  as  to  the  propriety  of  his  signifying  to 
the  board,  at  that  meeting,  his  determination  to  decline  a  reappointment, 
that  they  may  immediately  provide  a  successor,  unless  they  contemplate 
a  special  meeting  at  the  expiration  of  his  year. 

The  Vestrj'  think  that  every  view  Avhich  can  be  taken  of  the  subject 
demonstrates  the  propriety  of  a  relinquishment  of  the  office  of  Secretary 
and  General  Agent  at  the  time  specified.  As  to  the  altema\ive  referred 
to  by  the  Rector,  they  cannot,  either  for  themselves  or  for  the  congTCgation, 
for  a  moment  listen  to  a  proposition  of  dissolving  the  ties  which  have 
so  long  and  so  affectionately  and  happily  and  usefully  united  them  to- 
gether, that  he  might  devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  missionary  cause. 
They  believe  with  him  that  he  has  passed  the  period  of  life  at  which  it 
would  be  practicable  to  continue,  for  a  length  of  time,  the  laboi'ious  efforts 
requisite  for  the  discharge  of  both  offices.  They  have  lent  him  for  a  year, 
and  have  reason  to  rejoice  in  the  belief,  that  their  object  in  doing  so  has 
been  fully  realized :  they  believe,  now,  that  the  interests  of  the  congregation 
require  his  speedy  return  to  his  pastoral  duties;  and  they  trust,  under  these 
circumstances,  the  Board  of  Missions  will  readily  acquiesce  in  the  opinion 
expressed  by  them. 

Thus  relieved  of  the  exacting  duties  of  the  secretaryship,  the 
tension  upon  his  health  relaxed,  and  the  duties  of  his  rectorship 
and  the  claims  of  the  benevolent  and  other  organizations  with  which 
he  was  connected  regained  his  undivided  attention. 

As  a  token  of  respect  to  the  venerable  Bishop  "White,  the  Presiding 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  141 

Bishop  of  the  Church  whose  lamented  death  occurred  July  17,  1836, 
the  Church  was  draped  in  mourning  and  the  Vestry  adopted  a  series 
of  resolutions  reciting  their  sincere  sorrow  and  sense  of  loss,  their 
gratitude  that  his  useful  life  had  heen  so  long  spared,  and  their 
heartfelt  sympathy  with  his  bereaved  family. 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE    MILNOR    PERIOD 

(1836-1845) 

The  Rector  of  St.  George's  was  deeply  interested  in  the  cause 
of  theological  education  and  readily  secured  the  cordial  co-operation 
of  the  congregation  in  its  behalf.  As  early  as  1822  an  Education 
Society  was  founded  in  the  parish  "  to  assist  pious  young  men  in 
obtaining  a  classical  education  and  attending  on  the  instruction 
of  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States,  with  a  view  to  Holy  Orders  in  the  said  Church 
or  either  of  these  objects."  The  General  Theological  Seminary  had 
been  established  by  the  General  Convention  in  1817,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Bishop  and  delegates  from  South  Carolina,  to  be 
located  in  the  City  of  New  York.  But  despite  all  the  efforts  of  the 
friends  of  the  movement  little  interest  was  awakened  in  its  behalf 
among  the  leading  churchmen  of  New  York;  and  "  even  Bishop 
Hobart  treated  it  with  comparative  indifference,"  apparently  from 
his  "  fear  of  committing  a  power  so  vital  to  the  Church  as  the  con- 
trol of  the  education  of  its  candidates  to  a  body  so  fluctuating  and  ir- 
responsible as  the  General  Convention,  at  least  in  its  House  of  Dele- 
gates." No  sufficient  funds  for  its  support  were  forthcoming,  and 
the  General  Convention  in  May,  1820,  determined  to  remove  it  to  New 
Haven,  where,  it  was  said,  ' '  the  professors  and  students  could  have 
access  to  public  libraries,  enjoy  the  benefits  resulting  from  literary 
society,  and  live  comfortably  at  a  moderate  expense." 

Thereupon  Bishop  Hobart  at  once  appealed  to  his  diocese  to  es- 
tablish a  theological  seminary  in  New  York,  which  was  opened  in 
May,  1821.  But  meanwhile  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Jacob  Sherred,  a 
vestryman  of  Trinity  parish  and  who  had  been  the  architect  of  the 
second  St.  George's  building  in  Beekman  Street,  a  legacy  of  sixty 
thousand  dollars  was  found  to  be  available  for  "  a  seminary  to  be 
located  in  New  York."  The  question  at  once  arose  which  institu- 
tion was  entitled  to  the  legacy.    To  determine  the  matter  a  special 


THE     MILNOR    PERIOD  143 

session  of  the  General  Convention  was  called  to  meet  in  October 
of  the  same  year,  the  happy  outcome  of  which  was  the  removal  of 
the  General  Seminary  back  to  New  York,  its  consolidation  with  the 
diocesan  school,  the  securing  of  the  Sherred  legacy  as  part  of  its 
endowment,  the  adoption  of  a  new  constitution  for  it  by  this  General 
Convention  of  1821,  and  the  reopening  of  the  institution,  February 
13,  1822,  in  the  rooms  of  the  Trinity  Church  School  with  two  pro- 
fessors and  twenty-three  students.  The  laying  of  the  corner-stone 
of  the  new  building  took  place  July  28,  1825,  on  the  present  site 
of  the  seminary  on  Ninth  Avenue  between  Twentieth  and  Twenty- 
first  streets,  sixty  lots  in  Chelsea  having  been  munificently  given  by 
Dr.  Clement  C.  Moore.  The  Rector  of  St.  George's  was  one  of  the 
first  trustees  and  zealously  labored  for  its  interests  throughout  his 
life. 

In  response  to  an  appeal  for  funds  for  the  Seminary  members  of 
the  congregation  of  St.  George's  met  at  the  church  in  December, 
1824  and  contributed  so  liberally  that  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Seminary  trustees  in  the  ensuing  July  seventeen  hundred  dollars  was 
acknowledged  as  donated  by  St.  George's  Church  besides  "  Doctor 
Milnor's  second  instalment  of  one  hundred  dollars."  The  Rector  of 
St.  George's  was  appointed  at  the  diocesan  convention,  October, 
1828,  a  member  of  the  Theological  Education  Committee  whose 
duty  was,  ' '  in  conjunction  with  the  Bishop,  to  devise,  and  as  far  as 
practicable  to  carry  into  effect,  measures  for  procuring  means  for 
educating  young  men  for  the  ministry. ' ' 

The  project  of  endowing  a  scholarship  in  the  Seminary  to  be 
known  as  "  the  Scholarship  of  St.  George's  Church  in  the  City 
of  New  York  ' '  was  brought  before  the  ' '  Association  of  St.  George 's 
Church  for  the  Promotion  of  Christianity  "  by  the  Rector  in  Janu- 
ary, 1835,  and  by  it  approved,  and  the  Rector  was  requested  to 
bring  the  matter  before  the  congregation,  which  he  did  in  the  en- 
suing month.  Two  thousand  dollars  was  promptly  raised  and  paid 
in  to  the  treasurer  of  the  Church  and  by  him  remitted  to  the  treas- 
urer of  the  Seminary  for  the  endowment  of  a  perpetual  scholarship, 
the  right  of  nomination  to  which  should  vest  in  the  Rector  of  St. 
George's.  A  list  of  the  incumbents  of  this  scholarship  will  be  found 
in  the  appendix. 

A  further  evidence  of  the  interest  of  St.  George 's  in  the  Seminary 
was  its  response  to  a  request  of  the  trustees  that  an  annual  collection 
toward  defraying  the  current  expenses  of  the  institution  for  the 
next  five  years  be  taken  up  in  St.  George's  Church,  which  request 
■was  granted  by  the  Vestry  and  its  first  contribution  of  $83.24  was 


Ii4  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

followed  by  another  in  the  ensuing  year  of  $116.16.  The  Rector 
was  further  authorized  to  obtain  at  the  expense  of  the  Church  suit- 
able furniture  and  books  to  be  placed  in  the  room  allotted  to  the 
person  appointed  to  the  St.  George's  Scholarship.  A  carpet  was 
added  later.  Benjamin  W.  Stone  was  the  first  beneficiary  nominated 
by  the  Rector.  A  pew  in  the  Church  was  assigned  by  the  Vestry, 
at  the  suggestion  of  the  Rector,  in  1840,  for  the  use  of  such  students 
in  the  Seminary  as  might  care  to  occupy  it. 

Doctor  Milnor  was  constant  in  his  attendance  at  the  meetings  of 
the  trustees  and  mingled  freely  with  the  students.  In  a  letter  of 
July  1,  1833,  he  writes  to  the  Rev.  -John  S.  Stone: 

My  acquaintance  with  most  of  the  graduates  and  with  many  of  the 
students,  inspires  me  with  a  very  pleasing  hope  of  an  increasing  tendency, 
in  that  important  institution  of  our  Church,  towards  moderate  Church 
views  and  evangelical  doctrines. 

You  will  see,  by  The  Recorder  of  last  week,  the  delightful  promise  of 
the  eolle^ate  institution  at  Bristol,  Pennsylvania :  I  verily  believe  no  at- 
tempt in  the  Church,  by  those  of  our  views,  has  ever  been  made,  from 
which  more  good  will  result,  provided  the  energies  of  the  pious  are  prompt- 
ly I3ut  forth  in  its  establishment  and  support.     Let  us  pray  earnestly  for 

our  dear  brother  C and  his  associates,  and  for  the  complete  success  of 

this  hallowed  work. 

Upon  the  expressions  of  this  letter  Doctor  Stone  thus  comments 
in  his  Memoir  of  Doctor  Milnor: 

This  letter,  placed  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  shows  that  Doctor 
Milnor  was  disappointed  in  two  of  his  most  pleasing  anticipations:  his 
hope,  that  the  tendency  of  our  General  Seminary  would  be  increasingly 
towards  moderate  Chui'ch  views  and  evangelical  doctrines;  and  his  hope, 
that  Bristol  College  would  live  to  fulfil  its  first  '  delightful  promise,'  of 
g'ood  to  the  cause  of  Scriptural  truth  and  godliness.  The  star  of  Bristol 
College  has  long  since  fallen  from  our  ecclesiastical  firmament,  into  the 
darkness  of  utter  extinction ;  while  that  of  our  General  Seminary  is  suf- 
fering an  occultation,  which  threatens  to  be  gloomier  than  the  darkness  even 
of  extinction  itself.  There  is  blessed  light  within  it  yet;  but  baleful 
shadows  have  fallen  between  it  and  our  eyes,  portending  '  trouble  and 
darkness,'  and  the  '  dimness  of  anguish,'  to  those  who  look  for  the  break- 
ing forth  of  the  true  brightness. 

In  a  letter  under  date  of  April  6,  1837,  Doctor  I\Iilnor  gives  some 
justifying  reason  for  his  retention  of  the  office  of  trustee  in  the 
Seminary,  while  so  utterly  out  of  accord  with  the  principles  of 
Traetarianism  which  were  beginning  to  make  their  appearance  there: 

It  is  true,  that  from  the  beginning,  I  have  acted  as  a  trustee  of  the 
General  Theological  Seminary:  aided,  however,  by  other  brethren,  I  am 
persuaded  I  have  been  able  to  exercise,  not  a  controlling,  but  a  restraining 
influence  on  many  of  its  proceedings.  By  intercourse  with  the  students, 
which  would  have  been  far  less  influential  had  I  stood  in  the  attitude 
either  of  opposition  or  of  indifference  to  that  institution,  I  have  been  able 


THE    MILNOR     PERIOD  145 

to  give  much  individual  encouragement  to  their  adoption  of  moderate 
Church  principles  and  evangelical  doctrines,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  habits 
of  personal  piet}^;  and  experience  in  this,  as  well  as  in  some  other  depart- 
ments, has  convinced  me,  that  so  far  as  we  can.  without  a  compromise  of 
principle,  it  is  best  to  act  with  our  brethren  of  the  other  school.  The  effect 
has  been,  thus  far,  I  believe,  beneficial. 

The  Oxford  Tracts  were  republished  in  New  York  in  1839.  Their 
principles  had  made  great  headway  in  England,  and  until  the  ap- 
pearance of  Tract  No.  90,  which  closed  the  series,  there  had  been 
many  of  the  clergy  and  laity  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  who 
welcomed  the  distinctive  teaching  of  the  Tracts,  whose  avowed  ob- 
ject was  "  the  practical  revival  of  doctrines  which,  although  held 
by  the  great  divines  of  our  Church,  at  present  have  become  obsolete 
with  the  majority  of  her  members  and  are  withdrawn  from  public 
view  even  by  the  more  learned  and  orthodox  few  who  still  adhere 
to  them."  But  with  the  issue  of  Tract  No.  90  Bishop  Perry  says  in 
his  History : 

The  whole  ecclesiastical  atmosphere  was  at  fever-heat;  bishops  and 
clergy,  pastors  and  people,  were  marshaled  against  each  other  in  hostile 
array;  the  newspapers  were  filled  with  the  angiy  controversy  and  scarce 
a  week  elapsed  without  one  or  more  bitter  recriminating  pamphlets  being 
issued  from  the  press. 

A  graduate  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  Arthur  Carey, 
a  young  man  of  unblemished  character  and  marked  ability  who  had 
adopted  the  Tractarian  opinions,  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Onder- 
donk  in  July,  1843,  despite  the  public  protest  of  the  Rev.  Doctors 
Hugh  Smith  and  Henry  Anthon.  The  agitation  became  intense 
throughout  the  Church.  The  perversion  to  Rome  of  Newman  and 
many  others  in  England,  together  with  that  of  Bishop  Ives  of  North 
Carolina  and  divers  of  our  priests  and  laymen,  was  pointed  out  as 
the  legitimate  result  of  the  Tractarian  teachings.  Among  the  op- 
ponents of  the  Oxford  Movement  none  was  more  staunch  than  the 
Rector  of  St.  George's,  and  as  he  had  given  careful  study  to  the 
whole  series  of  Tracts  he  was  an  intelligent  opposer  of  what  he  re- 
garded as  a  '*  dangerous  system  "  and  "  novelties  which  disturb 
our  peace."  The  congregation  of  St.  George's  were  thoroughly  in 
accord  with  their  Rector. 

The  interest  of  St.  George's  and  its  Rector  in  the  cause  of  theo- 
logical education  was  further  signally  evidenced  by  their  connec- 
tion with  the  founding  of  the  college  and  seminary  at  Gambler, 
Ohio.    Bishop  Philander  Chase  of  that  diocese,  profoundly  impressed 

10 


146  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

with  the  necessity  of  establishing  an  institution  of  secular  and  theo- 
logical learning  in  that  new  land  and  failing  to  secure  either  ade- 
quate sympathy  or  material  help  from  his  brethren  in  the  East, 
sailed  for  Europe  in  October,  1823,  to  solicit  funds  from  members 
of  the  Church  of  England.  So  persuasively  did  he  present  his  cause 
that  he  secured  upward  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  which  he  applied 
primarily  to  the  purchase  of  eight  thousand  acres  of  wild  land  in 
Knox  County,  near  the  center  of  the  State,  and  wdth  unflagging 
energy  and  amid  appalling  discouragements  set  about  laying  founda- 
tions for  the  new  institutions.  The  immediate  location  he  named 
Gambler  in  honor  of  Lord  Gambler,  an  English  patron  of  the  enter- 
prise. The  college  was  named  Kenyon  after  Lord  Kenyon.  The 
chapel  was  called  Ross  Chapel,  in  honor  of  Lady  Ross,  and  sub- 
sequently the  divinity  hall  when  erected  was  named  Bexley,  in 
recognition  of  the  interest  of  Lord  Bexley  therein. 

Among  those  who  rallied  to  the  Bishop's  support  the  necessity 
of  endowments  was  promptly  recognized,  and  among  the  efforts  made 
to  secure  permanent  support  for  Kenyon  and  Gambler  was  that 
which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  "  the  Milnor  Professorship 
of  Divinity."  It  was  purposed  to  raise  an  endowment  fund  of  ten 
thousand  dollars,  to  which  Doctor  Milnor  himself  and  members  of 
St.  George's  liberally  contributed.  Bishop  Chase  and  his  brother, 
members  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Rochester,  New  York,  and  others  also 
contributing,  the  sum  collected  reached  seven  thousand  dollars  and 
was  subsequently  increased  to  $7,720.60.  It  was  understood  and 
agreed  that  the  nomination  of  the  incumbent  of  the  professorship 
should  vest  in  Doctor  Milnor  during  his  life  subject  to  the  approval 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  institution,  and  in  the  event  of  no 
nomination  being  made  by  Doctor  Milnor  or  his  successors  the  board 
should  itself  appoint  the  professor.  The  fund  was  to  be  placed  in 
the  care  of  trustees  chosen  by  the  subscribers,  who  should  properly 
invest  the  same  and  apply  the  income  to  the  support  of  the  professor. 
It  was  the  desire  of  the  trustees  of  the  institution  that  the  Cor- 
poration of  St.  George's  Church  should  act  as  trustees  of  the  fund 
and  a  legal  instrument  authorizing  them  to  do  so  was  duly  executed. 
But  the  Vestry,  deeming  itself  legally  incapable  of  assuming  the 
trust,  at  a  meeting  held  April  21,  1831,  devolved  the  responsibility 
upon  its  "  individual  members  to  act  in  their  private  capacity  as 
temporary  trustees  of  the  fund  subscribed  to  endow  the  professor- 
ship aforesaid  according  to  the  terms  of  the  instrument  above  men- 
tioned." As  a  final  disposition  of  the  matter  in  June,  1848,  the 
Corporation  of  St.  George's  executed  its  bond  for  seven  thousand 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  147 

dollars,  the  interest  on  which  at  six  per  cent,  was  to  be  paid  semi- 
annually. This  interest  was  regularly  paid  up  to  1873,  the  amount 
having  been  meanwhile  increased  to  $231.62,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  various  additional  contributions  had  been  made  to  the  fund. 
The  right  of  nomination  to  the  Milnor  professorship,  which  had 
been  vested  for  the  period  of  ten  years  after  the  death  of  Doctor 
Milnor  in  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's,  expired  in  April,  1855.  The 
Vestry  thereupon  offered,  in  case  the  trustees  of  Kenyon  College 
agreed  to  continue  this  right  of  nomination,  to  make  the  annual 
payment  seven  hundred  dollars  for  a  second  ten  years.  This  offer 
was  accepted  by  the  trustees  and  at  the  expiration  of  the  period  the 
arrangement  was  renewed.  During  the  years,  however,  from  1873 
to  1878  there  was  no  Milnor  professor  and  no  interest  was  paid  or 
demanded,  the  Vestry  having  been  advised  that  nothing  was  legally 
payable  on  the  bond  during  the  vacancy.  In  1877  a  special  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Charles  Tracy  and  H.  P.  Marshall,  was  ap- 
pointed "  to  inquire  into  the  relation  of  this  corporation  to  the 
Milnor  Professorship  of  Theology  in  Kenyon  College."  This  com- 
mittee's labors  extended  through  nearly  four  years,  and  a  scrap-book 
containing  correspondence,  resolutions,  and  propositions  from  both 
parties  interested,  together  with  the  final  agreement,  was  prepared 
by  the  committee  in  order  to  preserve  the  history  of  the  matter  in 
permanent  and  intelligible  form ;  and  this  voluminous  scrap-book  is 
now  in  the  archives  of  the  Church.  The  settlement  was  dated  Janu- 
ary 6,  1881,  and  is  a  formal  instrument  whereby  all  questions  re- 
specting the  fund  were  adjusted,  the  signatory  parties  thereto  being 
the  wardens  and  treasurer  of  St.  George's  Church,  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  Diocese  of  Ohio  by  Gregory  T.  Bedell,  Bishop  and 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  Cyrus  S.  Bates,  at  that 
time  the  incumbent  of  the  Milnor  professorship,  for  himself  and  his 
successors  in  office.  St.  George's  Corporation  bound  itself  by  this 
instrument  to  ' '  the  payment  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  on  the 
first  day  of  June  and  December  in  each  year  for  the  use  and  sup- 
port of  the  Milnor  professor."  The  endowment  was  increased  in 
1867  by  nine  thousand  dollars,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Lewis,  of 
Cincinnati,  since  which  date  it  has  been  known  as  the  Milnor  and 
Lewis  Professorship.  The  following  named  divines  have  been  the 
successive  incumbents  of  the  professorship :  William  Sparrow,  1830- 
41;  Samuel  Fuller,  1843-45;  Thomas  M.  Smith,  1845-63;  Henry 
Tullidge,  1863-65 ;  John  J.  McElhirmey,  1865-70 ;  Cyrus  S.  Bates, 
1875-85;  Fleming  James,  1885-89;  Theodore  C.  Seibt,  1889-95; 
D.  F.  Davies,  1895-. 


148  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

The  relation  to  the  parish  of  the  Rev.  James  W.  Cooke,  the  as- 
sistant minister,  was  brought  before  the  Vestry  in  a  communication 
dated  July  25,  1836,  in  which  he  stated  that  among  other  invita- 
tions from  various  sources  to  change  his  field  of  labor  he  had  re- 
ceived a  call  to  the  Rectorship  of  Trinity  Church,  Philadelphia,  but 
had  not  felt  at  liberty  to  give  any  encouragement  to  its  acceptance, 
as  the  year  of  his  engagement  at  St.  George's  had  not  expired.  The 
matter  was  duly  considered  by  the  Vestry,  and,  as  Mr.  Cooke's 
services  had  proved  eminently  acceptable  to  the  congregation,  a 
proposition  was  introduced  to  continue  his  relation  to  the  parish  as 
assistant  minister,  so  long  as  Doctor  Milnor  should  remain  its  Rector, 
if  this  arrangement  would  be  acceptable  to  Mr.  Cooke.  Having 
been  duly  apprised  of  the  proposition  and  having  become  satisfied 
of  the  unanimity  of  the  desire,  on  the  part  of  Vestry  and  people, 
that  he  should  continue  his  services  in  St.  George's,  he  signified  his 
willingness  to  be  guided  in  the  matter  by  their  judgment.  He  was 
accordingly  elected,  July  30th,  assistant  minister,  to  serve  during 
the  Rectorship  of  Doctor  Milnor  at  a  salary  increased  to  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

A  "  suitable  organ  "  for  the  lecture-room  at  an  expense  not  ex- 
ceeding four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  had  been  ordered  in  March, 
but  not  proving  satisfactory  the  Rector  was  authorized,  December 
8,  1836,  to  exchange  it  "  for  one  of  a  softer  tone,"  the  difference 
in  expense  to  be  paid  by  the  treasurer. 

The  belfry  clock  being  faulted  for  its  irregular  striking,  owing  to 
carelessness  on  the  part  of  successive  custodians,  the  committee  on 
property  ultimately  found  a  permanent  cure  for  the  Vestry's  re- 
sponsibility in  the  matter  by  arranging  with  the  city  authorities, 
after  six  months  of  negotiation,  that  the  superintendent  of  public 
clocks  should  take  charge  of  the  one  in  St.  George's  Church. 

Mr.  Gerrit  H.  Van  Wagenen,  a  former  warden  of  the  Church, 
devised  and  bequeathed  to  the  Corporation  of  St.  George's  a  certain 
tract  of  land  in  trust,  directing  its  conversion  into  money  to  be 
invested  and  the  income  to  be  applied  for  the  support  of  a  mis- 
sionary in  the  County  of  Chenango,  State  of  New  York.  The  ex- 
tract from  his  will  embodying  this  devise  and  bequest  was  laid 
before  the  Vestry  in  February,  1838,  and  referred  to  a  committee. 
Final  action  was  not  taken  till  October,  1840,  when,  the  Bishop  of 
Western  New  York  having  inquired  as  to  the  status  of  the  legacy,  it 
was  "  resolved  that  inasmuch  as  this  Vestry  entertains  very  great 
doubt  of  its  legal  ability  to  accept  of  and  hold  in  trust  said  bequest 


THE    MILNOR     PERIOD  149 

of  the  late  G.  H.  Van  Wagenen,  Esq.,  for  the  purpose  named  in  the 
will,  they  therefore  respectfully  decline  the  same." 

The  Rector  announced  to  the  Vestry  in  October,  1838,  that,  under 
the  plan  of  Trinity  School,  "  St  George's  Church  is  entitled  to  two 
free  scholarships  in  the  classical  department  of  said  School  ";  and 
on  February  14,  1839,  reported  that  John  James  MacLaren  had 
been  presented  by  him  in  behalf  of  this  Vestry  to  one  of  its  scholar- 
ships in  Trinity  School  and  that  he  had  been  examined  and  was 
accepted  and  was  now  at  that  institution. 

A  communication  was  received  from  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Mission  Society  enclosing  Article  III.  of  the  Constitution  and  in- 
viting the  Vestry  to  send  a  delegate  as  a  manager  of  that  Society. 
The  request  was  acceded  to  and  Mr.  William  Shatzel  was  elected. 
Mr.  Thatcher  Tucker  succeeded  him  in  the  following  year,  1839. 

The  Rector,  December  13,  1838,  presented  a  communication  from 
a  committee  of  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  requesting  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  "  to  confer  with  committees  of  other  vestries 
upon  the  subject  of  a  general  cemetery  for  the  use  of  the  various 
congregations  of  Episcopalians  in  our  city."  The  subject  was  re- 
ferred to  Dr.  John  Stearns,  William  Whitlock,  Jr.,  and  B.  L.  Woolley, 
who  duly  conferred  with  the  committees  from  the  other  vestries  and 
reported  the  terms  upon  which  the  trustees  of  the  new  Greenwood 
Cemetery  proposed  to  convey  an  aggregate  of  one  thousand  lots  to 
the  several  churches.  After  ample  consideration  the  Vestry,  on 
the  recommendation  of  its  committee,  agreed  to  "  take  one  hundred 
lots  on  said  terms,  provided  there  be  a  concurrence  on  the  part  of 
other  churches  so  as  to  secure  the  success  of  the  undertaking. ' '  But 
such  concurrence  failed  and  as  its  final  action  the  Vestry  voted, 
October  13,  1842,  ''  that  it  is  inexpedient  to  subscribe  for  lots  in  the 
Greenwood  Cemetery."  The  Corporation  of  Trinity  had  mean- 
while passed  a  similar  resolution  of  inexpediency  and  purchased 
from  Richard  F.  Carman  the  site  of  the  present  Trinity  Cemetery. 

It  having  been  proposed  that  the  Church  should  unite  with  other 
owners  of  property  in  Beekman  Street  to  have  the  said  street  paved 
with  blocks  of  wood,  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  committee  on 
property  and  repairs  with  power. 

By  this  time,  1840,  the  population  of  New  York  had  become 
312,852.  A  sad  premonitory  symptom  of  the  trend  of  population 
up-town,  which  was  already  sapping  the  strength  of  St.  George's, 
is  found  in  this  item  from  the  records,  April  8,  1841 :  ' '  Mr.  James; 
I.  Hoyt  and  Mr.  Stewart  Brown  stated  that,  owing  to  the  great 
distance  from  the  church  of  their  present  residences,   they  were 


150  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

reluctantly  compelled  to  decline  being  candidates  for  a  seat  in  the 
Vestry  at  the  ensuing  election." 

A  portrait  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Inglis,  D.D.,  first  Bishop  of 
Nova  Scotia,  was  received  by  the  Vestry,  March  16,  1843 ;  being  a 
gift  of  his  son,  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Inglis,  D.D.,  third  Bishop  of 
Nova  Scotia,  and  transmitted  through  the  Bishop  of  this  diocese,  to 
be  placed  in  the  vestry-room  of  this  Church  in  memory  of  his  Rector- 
ship of  Trinity  Church  in  this  city  previous  to  the  Revolutionary 
War,  St.  George's  being  at  that  time  one  of  the  chapels  of  that 
parish. 

The  Foreign  Committee  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Church, 
which  had  acquired  the  habit  of  looking  to  St.  George's  in  emer- 
gencies, elected  in  December,  1842,  its  assistant  minister  as  their 
Secretary  and  General  Agent  until  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  in  the  following  June.  This  fact  having  been  communicated 
to  the  Vestry,  and  the  Rector  having  expressed  his  willingness  to 
take  upon  himself  the  extra  parochial  duty  in  order  to  enable  Mr. 
Cooke  to  accept  the  appointment,  the  Vestry  gave  its  consent. 

In  the  following  May,  however,  Mr.  Cooke  having  favorably  con- 
sidered a  call  to  St.  Michael's  Church,  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  re- 
quested the  Vestry,  in  view  of  his  relation  to  the  parish  established 
in  1836,  to  place  him  at  liberty  to  decide  upon  the  question  of  his 
personal  duty  in  this  matter.  Permission  to  resign  was  thereupon 
accorded  him,  and  with  the  assurance  of  the  Vestry's  "  high  sense 
of  his  talents  and  piety  "  he  removed  to  Bristol. 

With  the  resignation  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cooke  the  office  of  assistant 
minister  in  St.  George's  lapsed  and  such  assistance  as  the  Rector 
required  thereafter,  till  the  close  of  his  life,  was  furnished  chiefly 
by  the  Rev.  Pierre  P.  Irving  (sometime  Secretary  and  General 
Agent  of  the  Foreign  Committee)  to  whom,  as  indeed  to  his  former 
associate,  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Cooke,  the  Rector  felt  sincere  attachment. 
His  intercourse  with  them  was  ever  cordial  and  their  auxiliary  labors 
most  acceptable  to  the  congregation.  The  following  note  from  Mr. 
Irving  to  the  Rector  bears  pleasing  witness  to  the  character  of  their 
relations : 

MissiONART-RooMS,  Monday,  Dec.  4,  1843. 

Rev.  and  dear  Sir — I  beg  leave  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  very 
kind  note  of  this  morning,  with  the  aecom]:)an3dng  check. 

It  is  very  gratifying  to  me  to  learn  that  my  services  are  at  all  accept- 
able; and  I  can  say  with  all  truth,  that  even  were  there  no  emolument 
derived  from  them,  I  should  render  tlie  same  services  with  the  greatest 
readiness  and  ]ileasure.  My  employment  at  St.  George's  has  given  me  a 
delightful  spiritual  home,  and  relieved  me  from  the  chief  source  of  con- 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  151 

cem,  arising  out  of  my  separation  from  pastoral  duty.  I  consider  it  not 
the  least  among  the  many  marks  of  the  divine  goodness  towards  me,  that 
I  have  been  thus  brought  into  tliis  frequent  intercourse  with  yourself  and 
your  flock. 

I  am,  most  faithfully  and  affectionately,  yours, 

Pierre  P.  Irving. 

Notice  was  received  by  the  Vestry,  January  9,  1845,  from  Philip 
Embury,  James  A.  Burtus,  and  Augusta  Embury,  executors  of  Mrs. 
Anna  Waldron,  that  a  legacy  of  five  hundred  dollars  had  been  be- 
queathed by  her  ''to  be  applied  to  the  aid  and  support  of  the 
Sunday-schools  of  St.  George's  Church."  The  Rector  was  requested 
to  receive  the  same,  give  a  proper  acquittance  therefor,  and  pay 
it  over  to  the  treasurer  for  investment,  "  the  income  arising  there- 
from to  be  paid  over  to  the  Rector  to  be  expended  by  him  in  the 
support  of  the  Sunday-schools  of  this  Church." 

A  recurrence  of  the  disease  which  in  1825  had  brought  him  to 
the  verge  of  the  grave,  again,  at  the  opening  of  1844,  threatened  the 
Rector's  life.  As  before,  the  issue  wavered  in  uncertainty  and  as 
before  "  prayer  was  made  without  ceasing  of  the  Church  unto  God 
for  him  "  and  again  prevailed  to  the  prolongation  of  his  useful 
life.  Such  letters  as  the  following  from  Bishop  Eastburn  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Bishop  Mcllvaine  of  Ohio,  addressed  to  him  soon  after 
his  recovery,  expressed  the  general  feeling  of  relief  and  thank- 
fulness : 

Boston,  March  6,  1844. 
My  dear  Friend — An  intention,  long  cherished,  to  address  a  few  lines 
to  you  from  this  my  new  home  and  field  of  labor,  is  now  quickened  by 
the  desire  which  I  feel  to  congratulate  you  on  your  recent  recovery  from 
severe  and  dangerous  illness.  I  am  filled,  as  I  humbly  trust,  with  gTatitude 
to  God  that  He  has  spared  you  for  yet  further  services  to  His  Church, 
at  this  period  of  her  searching  trials.  Little  can  we  afford  to  lose  at  such 
a  time,  if  ever,  those  of  God's  ministering  servants  who  are  true  to  the 
grand  essentials  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  those  standards  of  our  Church  which 
so  unequivocally  set  forth  the  Gospel,  May  you  live,  my  dear  friend,  to 
see  the  present  cloud  passing  away,  and  to  witness  the  triumph  of  our 
scriptural  communion  over  principles  which,  if  generally  prevalent,  would 
reduce  us  to  a  condition  little  different  from  that  of  the  dark  ages:  to  a 
body  without  a  soul,  a  shell  without  the  kernel. 

Gambier,  June  20,  1844. 
My  dear  Doctor — I  have  often  intended  writing  to  you  to  express  my 
joy  at  your  recoveiy  from  your  dangerous  illness;  but  almost  constant 
absence  from  home  on  visitations,  for  three  months,  has  prevented.  For  a 
long  while  I  could  not  hear  how  you  were;  and  only  judged  you  were 
better,  because  not  hearing  that  you  were  worse.  I  have  no  doubt  you 
experienced  the  same  sweet  support  and  peace  in  your  danger  as  when,  many 


152  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

years  ago,  you  lay  expecting  to  depart.  The  Lord  has  raised  you  up  to  wit' 
ness  and  share  still  more  of  the  trials  of  His  Chureh.  How  we  are  beset 
on  all  sides !  Our  heresies  within ;  the  universal  crusade  against  us  from 
without :  and  tlien,  the  fuel  to  the  zeal  of  that  crusade,  which  is  given  by 
sucli  ti'ibulations  as  tliat  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  less  public  but  quite 
understood  case  of  greater  evil  in  New  York.  These  are  trials ! 
This  allusion  to  the  * '  case  of  greater  evil  ' '  was  to  that  of  the  Bishop 
of  New  York  in  whose  unhappy  trial  the  Rector  of  St.  George's  was 
to  be  called  to  take  part  as  a  witness. 

During  the  Rector's  illness  and  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Irving  on 
missionary  duty,  the  services  in  St.  George's  were  supplied  by  that 
devoted  and  amiable  young  clergyman  ''  whose  years  were  all  too 
few,"  the  Rev.  William  H.  "Walter.  His  reply  to  the  Rector's  letter 
of  appreciation  is  of  interest : 

15  University  Place,  April  17,  1844. 

Rev.  axd  deae  Sir — In  the  evening  I  received  your  note  with  its  ac- 
companiments. I  desire  to  acknowledge  your  promjat  and  liberal  remunera- 
tion of  the  services  which  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  render  you  during 
your  illness.  With  still  greater  pleasure  do  I  accept  the  token  of  your 
personal  esteem  with  which  you  have  favored  me.  Most  beautiful  and 
valuable  in  itself,  the  gift  has  a  still  higher  value  in  my  eyes,  as  the  ex- 
pression, which  you  have  made  it,  of  the  Chi^istian  regard  and  affection 
towards  me,  entertained  by  one  so  much  my  senior  in  years,  and  so  justly 
honored  and  venerated  in  the  Church.  In  return,  sir,  I  can  only  reciprocate 
from  my  heart  the  sentiments  of  attachment  which  you  have  expressed, 
and  renew  to  you  the  assurance  that  my  temporary  connection  with  your- 
self and  your  cure  has  been  productive  to  me  of  the  most  unqualified 
satisfaction. 

That   our   gracious  Lord  may   continue  you  yet  many  years  in   happy 
and  active  ministration  to  your  flock,  is  the  fervent  prayer, 
Dearest  sir,  of  your  sincere  and  respectful 
Friend  and  brother, 

Wm.   Henry  Walter. 

Rev.  Doctor  Milnor. 

Doctor  Milnor's  recovery  was  characterized  by  renewed  devotion 
to  his  parochial  duties  and  an  increasing  disinclination  to  the  con- 
troversial ' '  strife  of  tongues  ' '  whose  bitterness  and  intensity  marked 
those  troublous  times.  But  the  peaceful  quietude  he  sought  for  his 
declining  years  was  rudely  invaded  by  the  necessity  laid  upon  him 
to  discharge  a  most  painful  duty  to  testify  at  the  trial  of  his 
Diocesan.  Bishop  Onderdonk  was  presented  for  trial  on  grave 
charges  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General  Convention  in  1844 
and  was  suspended  from  office  by  the  judgment  of  his  Episcopal 
peers  January  3,  1845.  The  Rector  of  St.  George's  bore  his  testi- 
mony with  unfeigned  reluctance,  but  with  candor  and  directness 
and  with  a  deep  sense  of  his  responsibility  in  a  matter  so  seriously 


THE     MILNOR    PERIOD  153 

involving  the  welfare  of  the  Church.  Unkind  reflections  on  his 
motives  and  his  course  were  not  lacking  in  some  quarters  and  every 
eifort  was  made  to  discredit  his  evidence.  But  Bishop  Smith  of 
Kentucky,  in  a  letter  relating  to  the  impression  made  upon  him  by 
the  "  singular  wisdom,  kindliness,  and  firmness  "  of  Doctor  Milnor 
during  this  memorable  trial,  wrote : 

I  thought  I  ah-eady  knew  him  thoroughly,  and  that  I  duly  appreciated 
that  singular  statesman-like  combination  of  boldness  and  firmness  of  prin- 
ciple with  a  just  and  tender  regard  for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others, 
and  a  most  seiiipulous  care  to  preserve  his  character  and  influence  intact 
and  unimijaired.  But  his  whole  course  during  our  General  Convention, 
pending  the  question  of  presentment  and  trial,  and  during  his  own  long  and 
vexatious  cross-examination,  gave  me  so  much  higher  an  idea  than  I  had 
ever  before  entertained  of  his  wisdom  and  worth  that  I  could  not  but 
devoutly  give  thanks  for  the  gi'ace  of  God  which  is  in  him. 

The  agitation  and  dissensions  consequent  upon  this  trial  and 
verdict  throughout  the  Church,  and  especially  in  the  diocese  of 
New  York,  were  wide-spread  and  long-continued.  But  the  Rector 
of  St.  George's,  deploring  the  evils  of  the  times,  sought  to  withdraw 
himself  from  the  prevailing  contention,  as  "  years  were  creeping 
upon  him,  the  fire  of  youth  was  abated  and  the  holy  calm  of  eternity 
was  settling  on  his  spirit. ' '  Beyond  his  exacting  round  of  parochial 
duties,  and  the  claims  upon  his  time  of  the  many  religious  and 
benevolent  organizations  in  which  he  still  held  official  position,  a 
new  subject  of  solicitude  and  interest  was  forcing  itself  upon  his 
mind.  It  was  the  now  familiar  problem  of  ' '  the  down  -  town 
Church."  The  increasing  demands  of  business  were  supplanting 
the  residences  of  rich  and  poor  alike  by  warehouses  and  factories 
and  stores,  and  the  movement  was  proceeding  with  accelerating 
force.  Already  many  of  St.  George's  families  had  moved  up-town; 
and  although  not  a  few  of  these  had  at  great  inconvenience,  for  it 
was  not  a  day  of  easy  transportation,  through  loyalty  to  the  old 
Church,  about  which  clustered  so  many  happy  spiritual  memories 
and  through  their  personal  attachment  to  the  saintly  man  who  had 
long  ministered  to  them  in  spiritual  things,  continued  to  attend, 
still  members  had  diminished  and  the  income  of  the  Church  de- 
creased. 

Deeply  concerned  as  were  the  Rector  and  the  Vestry  at  the  con- 
dition of  affairs,  no  thought  was  entertained  of  the  abandonment  of 
the  old  Church.  But  the  solution  of  the  problem  was  sought  in  a 
proposal  to  erect  up-town  a  chapel  with  free  sittings  which  would  ac- 
commodate as  many  of  the  old  parishioners  as  could  be  reached  and 


154  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

others  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  new  site.  The  wisdom  of  this 
plan  for  Church  extension  was  intensified  by  the  sad  fact  that  the 
growth  of  the  Church  in  the  city  had  in  no  degree  been  keeping 
pace  with  the  growth  of  the  population,  and  the  statistics  of  the 
day  show  that  the  Church  was  far  behind  other  religious  bodies  in 
the  ratio  of  its  growth.  A  contemporary  sermon  by  the  Rector 
of  St.  Marks  speaks  of  this  as  "  a  melancholy  and  reproachful 
picture.    What  can  be  done  to  meet  this  pressing  emergency?" 

Neither  the  Rector  nor  the  Vestry  of  St,  George's  were  disposed 
to  ignore  this  pressing  question  of  responsibility  for  the  unchurched. 
But  to  maintain  the  old  church  and  erect  a  new  would  involve 
the  assumption  of  a  greater  responsibility  and  expenditure  than 
would  be  prudent  for  St.  George's  unaided  to  undertake.  The 
matter  was  brought  before  the  Vestry  at  a  meeting  held  April  2, 
1845.  The  Rector  stated  that  his  influence  and  co-operation  had 
been  solicited 

to  insure  the  erection  of  a  free  chapel  of  St.  George's  Church  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  city,  where  the  ricli  and  poor  might  worship  together, 
according  to  the  spirit  of  the  Gosi^el  and  ancient  usage.  A  former  member 
of  this  parish  had  generoush'  offered  a  subscription  of  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  to  use  his  eiforts  in  canning  fonvard  the  design  to  completion. 
The  Rector  stated  his  unwillmgness  to  embark  in  this  enterj^rise  until 
he  had  the  consent  and  concuiTence  of  his  Vestry ;  and  he  felt  the  more 
flelicacy  after  the  remark  of  a  member  of  the  Vestry,  who,  in  stating  the 
wishes  and  designs  of  those  who  ui'ged  it,  said,  that  in  addition  to  other 
and  weighty  motives,  they  also  designed  it  as  a  lasting  memento  of  the 
piety,  faithfuhiess,  and  extended  usefulness  of  the  present  Rector  of  St. 
George's  Clmrch.  He  hoped  that  the  subject  would  be  thorougiily  investi- 
gated by  the  Vestry  through  a  committee,  to  report  at  a  future  meeting. 

The  Vestry  thereupon  appointed  a  committee  of  the  five  senior 
members — Doctor  Stearns  and  Messrs.  Burtus,  Woolley,  Whitlock, 
and  Winston,  with  the  addition  of  the  Rector  as  chairman — which 
committee,  upon  the  adjournment  of  the  Vestry,  remained  to  con- 
sider the  subject  and  came  to  the  conclusion  with  entire  unanimity 
to  report  in  favor  of  the  undertaking,  provided  Trinity  Church 
would  contribute  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  toward  it;  there  be- 
ing reason  to  believe  that  a  similar  amount  would  be  contributed 
by  individuals  friendly  to  the  undertaking,  the  Rector  himself  offer- 
ing a  personal  contribution  of  five  thousand  dollars.  It  being  left 
with  the  chairman  of  the  committee  to  draft  a  suitable  memorial 
to  Trinity  Church,  he  addressed  himself  with  characteristic  prompt- 
ness and  energy  to  its  preparation,  and  early  the  next  morning  sent 
it  to  a  member  of  the  committee  with  a  request  that  he  would  hand 
it  to  the  other  members  for  examination. 


THK     MILNOR     PEEIOD  155 

On  the  following  Sunday  he  preached,  with  his  accustomed  energy 
and  earnestness,  on  the  subject  of  "  A  charitable  judgment  of  the 
opinions  and  conduct  of  others  "  and  in  the  afternoon  to  the  in- 
mates of  the  "  Asylum  for  Respectable  Aged  and  Indigent  Fe- 
males." On  the  ensuing  Tuesday,  April  8th,  a  member  of  the 
committee  called  upon  him  to  return  the  draft  of  the  memorial 
on  the  subject  of  the  proposed  chapel  and  conversed  with 
him  some  time  upon  it,  the  Doctor  proposing  some  slight  verbal 
changes  and  retaining  the  document  for  their  incorporation  therein. 
In  the  evening  he  presided  at  a  meeting  of  the  Directors  of  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution  in  his  study;  at  the  close  of  which,  in 
reply  to  a  congratulation  upon  his  appearance  of  good  health,  he 
laid  his  hand  upon  his  breast  and  said,  impressively,  "  I  have  some- 
thing here,  sir,  which  warns  me  to  expect  death  at  any  moment." 
"Within  five  hours  his  body  lay — a  lifeless  form. 

The  good  man  rested  from  his  labors.  He  had  gone  to  his  reward. 
The  shock,  however,  of  his  unexpected  death  created  a  profound 
impression.    The  Rev.  Doctor  Stone  thus  testifies : 

It  may  be  said  with  truth,  that  seldom,  if  ever,  have  simaltaneous  and 
wide-spread  expressions  of  public  grief  testified  more  loudly  or  more 
tonehingly  to  the  worth  of  a  departed  man  of  God,  than  th.ose  which  were 
poured  foi'th  upon  the  announcement  of  Doctor  Milnor's  sudden  demise. 
He  had  not  been  living  in  his  closet  alone,  nor  in  his  study  chiefly,  perusing 
or  producing  those  volumes  which  elicit  the  world's  loud  pnjses  or  louder 
strictures,  to  soothe  or  to  torture  the  living  author's  ear.  '  Fruitur  sua 
fama '  could  indeed  be  said  of  him,  if  not  as  a  living  scholar,  at  least  as 
a  living  actor,  moving  among  the  multitudes  whom  his  beneficent  life  had 
blessed,  and  enjo\ang  the  secret  consciousness  of  a  well-earned  fame.  Still, 
it  was  not  during  life  that  even  as  an  actor  in  its  busy  scenes,  his  worth 
was  fully  proclaimed,  and  his  praises  fully  uttered.  Towards  the  living 
philanthropist,  the  living  man  of  beneficent  activity,  the  world  often  be- 
haves not  only  with  something  of  fitting  modesty,  lest  its  praises  should 
seem  like  flatteiy,  but  also  with  something  of  apparent  indifference,  be- 
cause not  fully  conscious  of  the  blessings  which  it  is  receiving.  In  such 
cases,  it  is  only  when  the  instrument  of  those  blessings  is  removed,  that 
men  awake  to  a  true  sense  of  their  indebtedness,  or  give  free  vent  to  the 
emotions  which  had  been  silently  growing  into  strength  within  them.  It 
was  so  in  the  present  case.  Although  he  was  a  well-read  divine,  yet  he 
was  most  emphatically  a  man  of  action.  In  this  character,  too,  the  Chris- 
tian world  knew  him  Avidely,  and  widely  appreciated  the  gTeat  value  of  his 
services;  yet  it  was  not  till  he  was  gone,  that  it  was  prepared  fully  to 
express  its  appreciation,  or  even  fully  to  realize  the  value  of  what  it 
appreciated.  But  when  death  came,  and  he  no  longer  walked  among  living 
men,  then  his  true  worth  was  felt  in  the  distressful  void  produced :  grief 
burst  forth  on  every  hand;  and  deep  acknowledg-ments  to  God  were  made 
for  the  I'are  blessing  so  long  enjoyed,  so  late  removed.     The  religious  press, 


156  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

of  every  Christian  denomination,  and  in  every  part  of  the  country,  spoke 
forth  the  streng-th  and  fei"\'or  of  the  common  sentiment;  nor  was  even 
the  secular  press  either  less  prompt  or  less  emphatic  in  its  utterances.  The 
various  societies,  greater  and  smaller,  of  which  he  had  been  a  member, 
met  and  mourned,  and  gave  published  expressions  of  their  sorrows  and 
their  sense  of  loss.  The  clergy  of  his  own  Church,  of  all  orders  and  of 
all  opinions,  united  in  heartfelt  tributes  to  his  memory  and  his  worth. 
The  great  anniversaries  in  New  York,  w^hich  occurred  soon  after  liis  death, 
spread  throughout  Protestant  Christendom  the  loud  wail  of  sorrow  for  the 
dead,  and  the  equally  loud  note  of  gratitude  to  God  that  the  dead  had 
lived.  The  pulpit,  especially  of  the  E]:)iscopal  Chui'ch,  gave  voice  in  cities 
and  in  villages  to  the  universal  feeling;  and  in  many  of  the  religious 
periodicals  of  the  countiy,  obituaries  of  various  length  swelled  the  testi- 
mony of  the  daj'  to  the  truth,  that  a  greatly  good  and  a  greatly  useful 
Christian  had  gone  to  his  rest.  And  finally,  private  letters  and  official 
communications,  from  individuals  and  from  societies,  poured  into  the  bosom 
of  the  bereaved  household,  in  unstinted  measure,  the  healing  balms  of  sym- 
pathy and  of  a  just  appreciation  of  the  character  and  sei'S'ices  of  its 
departed  head. 

The  Vestry  met  informally  at  once,  with  all  the  members  present 
in  the  rectory,  to  make  arrangements  for  the  funeral.  Doctor 
Stearns,  Mr.  Winston,  and  Mr.  WooUey  were  designated  to  prepare 
appropriate  resolutions.  The  funeral  was  appointed  for  Friday  at 
4  P.M.  The  remains  were  to  be  temporarily  deposited  in  the  vault 
of  ]\Ir.  Burtus  in  the  churchyard  until  a  vault  could  be  constructed 
beneath  the  chancel  of  the  Church.  The  Church  was  to  be  draped 
in  mourning;  the  Vestry  were  to  wear  the  usual  badge  as  an  ex- 
pression of  their  grief.  All  expenses  of  the  funeral  would  be  de- 
frayed from  the  treasury.  The  following  clergymen  of  the  city 
were  to  be  invited  to  officiate :  the  Rev.  G.  T.  Bedell  to  read  the 
sentences,  the  Rev.  L.  P.  W.  Balch  to  read  the  lessons,  the  Rev. 
Doctor  Whitehouse  to  read  the  prayers.  The  pall-bearers  were  to 
be  the  Rev.  Doctors  Lyell,  Berrian,  "Wilson,  Turner,  Wainwright, 
Anthon,  Taylor,  and  Cutler.  The  Rev.  Dr.  S.  H.  Tyng,  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  to  be  requested  to  deliver  an  address  at  the  funeral 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  S.  Stone,  of  Brooklyn,  to  deliver  a  funeral 
sermon  to  the  congregation  on  Sunday  morning,  April  the  13th. 

The  funeral  was  a  solemn  and  affecting  occasion. 

So  intense,  says  one  of  the  published  notices  of  the  event,  was  the  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  public  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory, 
that  the  galleries  of  St.  George's  Church  were  filled  some  hours  before 
the  time  announced  for  the  interment;  and  so  soon  as  the  doors  were 
opened,  and  the  coiTin  was  carried  into  the  Church,  the  spacious  building 
was  filled  to  overflowing.  Among  those  present,  were  clergymen  of  nearly 
every  denomination,  including  most  of  those  belonging  to  the  Episcopal 
Church,  the  respective  Boards  of  the  American  and  New  York  Bible  So- 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  157 

eieties.  the  Tract  Society,  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution,  and  all  the 
pupils.  The  Church  was"  apparelled  in  deep  mourning,  and  the  chandeliers 
were  veiled  in  black  crape.  The  choir  sung  the  anthem,  '  Vital  Spark  of 
Heavenly  Flame';  and  the  Rev.  Doctor  Tyng  delivered  the  funeral  address; 
often  laboring  under  deep  emotion,  only  repressed  with  gi'eat  eft'ort;  and 
many  of  both  sexes  wept  nearly  the  whole  time  of  its  delivery. 

Such  were  the  public  obsequies  which  testified  to  the  respect  and 
honor  in  w^hich  the  lamented  Rector  was  held  in  the  community. 
On  the  following  Sunday  morning  the  bereaved  flock  gathered  to 
hear  the  sympathetic  and  discriminating  utterances  of  their  late 
Rector's  friend,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Stone;  all  deeply  sorrowing  that 
they  should  see  his  face  no  more,  but  grateful  to  recall  the  tender 
memories  which  clustered  around  his  spiritual  ministries  within 
those  hallowed  walls. 

His  body  had  been  placed  in  a  lead  cofSn  enclosed  in  one  of  ma- 
hogany covered  with  black  velvet,  on  which  was  an  inscribed  silver 
plate,  and  was  temporarily  deposited  in  a  vault  of  one  of  the  wardens 
in  the  churchyard.  But  on  the  completion  of  the  vault  beneath  the 
chancel  the  members  of  the  Vestry  met  by  appointment  on  Saturday 
morning,  July  12th,  for  the  purpose  of  witnessing  the  removal  of 
the  remains  of  their  late  revered  Rector  to  the  vault  which  had 
been  constructed  for  their  reception,  the  entrance  to  the  vault  being 
through  the  pavement  of  the  middle  aisle  in  front  of  the  chancel 
steps.  Here  they  reposed  for  many  years  until,  the  sale  and  de- 
struction of  the  Church  requiring  their  removal,  they  were  finally 
interred  in  the  family  plot  in  Greenwood  Cemetery. 

The  action  of  the  Vestry  at  their  first  meeting  after  the  funeral 
here  follows  in  full : 

The  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  presented  by  the  committee, 
and  on  motion  unanimously  adopted  and  directed  to  be  entered  at  lengtE 
on  the  minutes  of  the  Vestry: 

It  having  pleased  tlie  great  Head  of  the  Church  to  remove  most  sud- 
denly by  death  on  Tuesday  night,  the  eighth  of  April  a.d.  1845,  the  Rev. 
James  Milnor,  D.D.,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age  and  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  his  Rectorship  of  this  parish,  this  Vestiy  being  desirous  of  placing 
on  record  an  expression  of  their  profound  grief  at  this  bereavement  and 
the  irreparable  loss  sustained  therein  by  the  congregation,  direct  the  fol- 
lo^^^ng  resolutions  to  be  entered  upon  their  minutes : 

Besolved.  That  while  we  deeply  grieve  under  this  chastisement  of  Al- 
mighty God  in  the  removal  of  His  distingaiished  sen-ant  our  pastor  from 
his  stewardship  among  us,  we  bow  in  humble  submission  to  His  sovereign 
will,  and  would  say  '  the  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away, 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.' 

Resolved.  That  while  we  sorrow  with  the  Chiu-ch  at  large  that  '  a  great 
man  has  fallen  in  our  Israel,'  whose  talents,  learning,  wisdom,  moderation, 


158  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

benevolence,  ijurity,  and  fervent  piety  caused  his  influence  to  be  widely 
felt  in  all  the  great  designs  for  promoting  the  temporal  and  eternal  welfare 
of  mankind,  yet  as  individuals  and  a  congregation,  we  feel  the  liveliest 
grief  for  the  loss  of  a  spiritual  father,  a  faithful  pastor,  an  eloquent  and 
scriptui'al  preacher  of  the  gospel  who  divided  to  each  of  us  his  portion 
in  due  season,  a  wise  counsellor,  a  tender  and  considerate  friend  who 
shared  and  symjjathized  in  our  sorrows  and  our  joys,  and  who  by  his 
spotless  integrity.  Christian  courtesy  and  purity  of  life,  not  less  than  by 
Ins  public  instructions,  taught  us  alike  our  duty  to  God  and  our  fellow-men. 

Resolved,  That  we  tenderly  sympathize  with  his  bereaved  and  afflicted 
family,  so  suddenly  smitten  while  providentially  separated,  and  fei-vently 
pray  that  the  '  Father  of  the  fatherless  and  the  widow's  God '  may  console 
them  with  the  blessings  of  His  providence  and  grace,  assuage  their  sorrows 
by  the  consciousness  that  their  loss  is  his  unspeakable  gain,  and  unite  them 
a  family  in  lieaven,  whitlier  their  revered  parent  and  head  has  so  suddenly 
been  called  to  precede  them. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolutions  be  presented  to  the 
famil}'  of  our  deceased  Rector,  and  published  in  the  religious  paj^ers.  It 
was  also  on  motion  resolved,  that  the  thanks  of  the  Vestry  be  expressed 
to  the  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  Phila- 
delphia, for  the  ajjpropriate  address  delivered  by  him  at  our  request,  at 
the  funeral  of  the  Rev.  James  Mihior,  D.D.,  our  late  Rector,  and  that  we 
respectfully  solicit  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Vestry  be  expressed  to  the  Rev.  John 
S.  Stone,  iD.D.,  of  Christ  Church,  Brooklyn,  for  the  apj^ropriate  funeral 
discourse  delivered  by  him  the  13th  of  April  in  this  Church  at  our  request, 
and  soliciting  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

Resolved,  That  this  Vestry  respectfully  solicit  from  the  family  of  our 
late  Rector  a  copy  of  the  last  sermon  delivered  by  him  to  the  congregation 
of  St.  George's  Church,  on  Sunday  morning,  Aj^ril  6th,  1845,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Christian  Unity,  that  the  same  may  be  published  and  widely  cir- 
culated as  containing  the  last  testimony  of  our  late  Rector  on  this  interest- 
ing subject. 

Resolved,  That  if  the  above  request  for  the  sermon  on  '  Christian  Unity ' 
be  granted,  that  an  edition  of  not  less  than  six  thousand  copies  be  pub- 
lished, that  the  Rev.  Pierre  P.  Irving  be  requested  to  superintend  the 
same,  and  that  a  copy  be  gratuitously  sent  to  every  clergyman  of  our 
Church  throughout  the  country. 

Resolved,  That  the  clei'k  and  Mi*.  Woolley  be  a  committee  with  power 
from  the  Vestry,  to  take,  order,  and  make  arrangements  for  the  publica- 
tions of  the  address  and  sermons  authorized  above. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  wait  upon  the  Rev. 
Pierre  P.  Irving  to  request  from  him  such  services  as  may  be  required  by 
the  congregation,  until  the  election  of  a  successor  to  our  late  Rector,  with 
power  to  make  such  aiTangements  with  him  as  may  be  expedient  and  neces- 
sary; whereupon  tlie  clerk.  Doctor  Stearns  and  Mr.  Woolley  were  ap- 
pointed said  committee. 

Resolved,  That  in  accordance  with  an  arrangement  w-ith  our  late  Rector 
at  the  request  of  the  Episcopal  committee  of  the  New  York  Bible  Society, 
this  Church  be  opened  on  Sunday  evening  next,  A]n-il  20th,  for  a  sermon 
to  be  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Doctor  Stone  of  Brooklyn,  and  that  a  collection 
be  made  in  aid  of  the  funds  of  said  societv. 


THE    MILNOR     PERIOD  159 

The  committee  on  a  chapel  of  this  Church  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  city  reported  an  unfinished  draft  of  a  memorial  to  Trinity- 
Church  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Rector,  who  had  given  to  this 
subject  some  of  the  latest  hours  of  his  life  and  in  which  he  felt  a 
deep  and  lively  interest.  The  memorial  was  referred  back  to  the 
same  committee  to  complete  and  to  be  reported  to  the  Vestry  for 
action  at  its  next  meeting. 

Testimonials  to  the  character  and  services  of  the  late  Rector  were 
received  from  a  meeting  of  the  clergy  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn, 
from  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  from 
the  Foreign  Committee  of  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  and  from  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York  and 
ordered  to  be  entered  in  full  upon  the  minutes.  These  will  be  found 
with  other  tributes  to  his  character  and  services  in  connection  with 
the  sketch  of  his  life  in  Part  II.  of  this  history. 

The  committee  appointed  to  wait  upon  the  Rev.  Mr.  Irving  and 
request  him  to  perform  such  service  as  may  be  required  until  a 
Rector  shall  be  chosen  and  enter  upon  his  duties  reported  at  the 
next  Vestry  meeting  that  they  had  waited  upon  Mr.  Irving  and 
that  he  had  kindly  consented  to  perform  such  service  as  could  be 
rendered  by  him  without  interfering  with  his  official  duties  as  the 
secretary  and  general  agent  of  the  Foreign  Committee,  leaving  the 
compensation  for  the  same  to  the  Vestry. 

The  draft  of  the  proposed  memorial  to  Trinity  Church,  whicK 
had  remained  unfinished  on  the  rector's  desk  at  the  time  of  his 
decease,  having  been  recommitted  to  the  same  committee  for  com- 
pletion, was  duly  presented  at  the  meeting  of  April  24th,  was 
unanimously  adopted  in  the  following  .form,  and  the  committee 
charged  to  communicate  it  to  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church : 

To  the  Rector,  Church-wardens,  and  Vesti-ymen  of  Trinity  Church,  New 
York;  the  memorial  of  the  Rector,  Church-wardens,  and  Vestrymen  of  St. 
George's  Church,  New  York,  respectfully  showeth. 

That  it  has  been  represented  to  your  memorialists,  that  an  addition  to 
the  accommodations  ati'orded  for  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God,  ac- 
cording to  the  usages  of  our  venerable  church,  in  the  ui3per  part  of  the 
city,  is  extremely  desirable,  and  will  soon,  from  the  rapid  increase  of  build- 
ings in  that  quarter,  become  absolutely  necessarj^;  and  that  there  is  a  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  many  individuals,  to  contribute  towards  the  erection 
of  a  free  church,  in  a  location  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  sufficiently 
remote  from  other  Episcopal  churches,  provided  the  purchase  of  ground 
and  the  erection  of  such  a  building  should  be  undertaken  by  your  memo- 
rialists, and  be  connected,  as  a  chapel,  with  St.  George's  Church. 

That  your  memorialists,  believing  that  the  increase  in  the  number  of 
Episcopal  churches  in  this  city,  for  the  last  thirty  years,  has  not  borne  a 


160  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

just  jiroportion  to  the  increase  of  the  population  during  that  time;  and 
that  a  commodious  edifice  on  the  plan  jiroposed,  of  leaving  the  sittings 
free,  and  the  current  expenses  to  be  defrayed  by  the  voluntary  contribu- 
tions of  tlie  worshi2:)pers,  would  be  peculiarly  acceptable  to  many  of  our 
members,  and  tend  much  to  the  enlargement  of  their  numbers;  believing 
also,  that  the  accomplishment  of  such  an  undertaking  is  practicable  on  the 
part  of  your  memorialists,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  from  sixty-five  to  seventy 
thousand  dollars,  provided  they  can  obtain  from  your  body  a  sum  adequate 
to  meet  the  expense  of  purchasing  suitable  lots  for  the  erection  of  such 
edifice  thereon,  respectfully  request  your  body  to  make  them  a  grant  of 
twentj'-five  thousand  dollars  in  money,  or  lots  of  groimd  which  may  be 
estimated  to  be  Avorth  that  sum,  towards  carrying  the  proposed  object  into 
execution ;  and  your  memorialists  believe  that  the  erection  of  such  edifice, 
without  interfering  with  the  interests  of  existing  establishments,  will  most 
essentially  contribute  to  the  promotion  of  religion,  and  the  growth  and 
prosperity  of  our  church— objects  which  they  doubt  not,  your  honorable 
body  as  well  as  your  memorialists  are  anxious  to  promote. 

]n  the  event  of  your  concurrence  in  tliese  views,  and  a  grant  being 
made  from  j'our  funds  of  the  sum  required,  your  memorialists  purpose  to 
embax'k  in  the  undertaking,  and  to  pledge  themselves,  with  the  blessing  of 
God,  for  its  accomplishment  upon  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  increasing 
wants  of  the  church,  and  unincumbered  with  debt. 

Your  memorialists  therefore  respectfully  and  urgently  request,  that  you 
will  take  the  subject  into  consideration,  and  by  a  compliance  with  the  re- 
quest now  made,  enable  your  memorialists  to  proceed  at  once,  with  all 
reasonable  exiDedition,  to  the  commencement  and  accomplishment  of  a  de- 
sign which  they  tnist  will  conduce  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  welfare  of  the 
eommunity,  and  the  honor  and  advantage  of  the  Church. 

Accompanying  the  memorial  was  a  statement  "  that  the  original 
draft  of  this  document  was  among  the  last  acts  of  our  deceased 
rector,  who  felt  a  deep  and  lively  interest  in  its  success,  expressing 
the  determination  to  subscribe  from  his  own  limited  means  a  sum 
equal  to  one-fifth  of  that  now  solicited  from  your  respected  Cor- 
poration. ' ' 

No  official  reply  to  this  memorial  was  ever  received  by  St. 
George's  Vestry,  but  after  some  four  months'  delay,  on  September 
15,  1845,  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  voted  "  that  it  was  inex- 
pedient to  grant  the  application." 

On  the  29th  of  May,  1845,  the  Vestry,  having  under  consideration 
the  erection  in  the  church  of  a  suitable  monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  late  rector,  appointed  a  committee  to  make  inquiries  and 
secure  designs  for  such  a  monument.  In  the  following  December, 
the  committee  presented  two  drafts  for  a  monument  designed  by 
Eobert  E.  Launitz,  "  either  to  be  constructed  of  the  finest  material 
and  the  bust  to  be  executed  in  a  most  artist-like  manner,  at  a  cost  of 
one  thousand  dollars."    The  proposal  of  Mr.  Launitz  was  accepted, 


THE    MILNOR    PERIOD  161 

the  money  appropriated,  and  the  choice  of  design  delegated  to  the 
committee.  This  monument  was  removed  to  the  new  church  upon 
its  erection  in  Stuyvesant  Square,  and  though  it  was  destroyed  in 
the  fire  of  1865  the  vestry  replaced  it  by  another,  which  graces  the 
chancel  of  St,  George's,  a  continual  memorial  of  Dr.  Milnor's  dis- 
tinguished services  and  revered  personality. 


CHAPTER    VII 
THE    TYNG    PERIOD 

(1845-1851) 

The  importance  of  prompt  action  to  secure  a  suitable  successor 
to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor,  to  maintain  the  principles  for  which  he 
had  so  steadfastly  contended,  and  to  prosecute  the  plans  which 
he  had  outlined  for  the  extension  of  St.  George's  influence  and 
work,  was  felt  by  every  one.  Nor  was  it  difficult  to  make  a  choice, 
as  in  the  minds  of  both  the  vestry  and  the  congregation  the  thought 
of  Dr.  Tyng  was  uppermost.  The  vestry  on  the  24th  of  April, 
after  a  full  mutual  expression  of  views,  commissioned  three. of  its 
members  "  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia  and  consult  with  the  Rev. 
S.  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  as  to  the  probability  of  his  acceptance  of  the 
rectorate,  should  it  be  tendered  him."  In  the  execution  of  their 
mission,  the  committee  laid  before  him  the  condition  of  the  parish, 
its  outlook  for  the  future,  the  importance  of  the  sphere  of  usefulness 
which  it  presented,  and  their  readiness  to  make  ample  provision  for 
his  support.  On  the  report  of  the  two  gentlemen  who  visited  Phila- 
delphia, Mr.  William  Whitlock,  Jr.,  and  Mr.  F.  S.  Winston,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Tyng  was  on  May  1st  unanimously  elected  rector  at 
a  salary  of  three  thousand  dollars  and  the  use  of  the  rectory,  and 
a  certified  copy  of  this  action  was  inclosed  to  him  with  the  following- 
letter  of  Mr.  Winston  as  clerk  of  the  vestry : 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  add  that  the  foregoing  resolution  was  not 
only  passed  with  entire  unanimity,  but  with  great  cordiality,  and  with  the 
earnest  wish  and  expectation  that  you  may  consider  it  your  duty  to  occupy 
the  important  position  left  vacant  by  your  friend,  our  late  venerated 
rector.  The  vestry  were  fully  informed  of  the  convei'sation  which  took 
place  between  yourself  and  the  committee  on  the  subject  of  an  increased 
appropriation  for  your  support,  should  it  become  necessary,  and  concurred 
in  the  views  and  pledges  made  you  by  the  latter.  We  think,  therefore, 
that  you  may  dismiss  all  anxiety  in  reference  to  your  pecuniary  affairs, 
other  than  a  wise  and  judicious  regulation  of  them,  should  you  accede  to 
our  wishes.    You  will  meet  an  affectionate  congregation,  who  wiU  welcome 


^?dl. 


■^^.C^^^c/i^,    X. 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  163 

you  with  Tvarm  hearts,  and  appreciate,  and,  I  trust,  profit  by  your  min- 
istrations among  them. 

In  his  interview  with  the  committee,  Dr.  Tyng  had  evinced 
considerable  reluctance  to  sever  the  happy  associations  of  sixteen 
years  in  Philadelphia  and  especially  the  close  ties  which  bound 
him  to  his  beloved  people  in  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany.  He  felt, 
moreover,  hesitant  to  undertake  to  fill  the  place  of  his  revered 
friend  whose  ability  and  personality  he  had  long  held  in  high  esteem. 
But  the  consideration  of  duty  outweighed  every  other,  and  he  sent 
the  following  letter  of  acceptance  under  date  May  23,  1845 : 

To  The  Wardens  and  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church. 

By  the  gnidance  of  divine  Providence  I  have  been  led  to  the  determination 
to  accept  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's  Church,  to  which  1  was  called  by 
your  resolution. 

I  shall  hope  to  enter  upon  the  immediate  discharge  of  the  duties  con- 
nected therewith,  and  shall  expect  under  the  Lord's  blessing  to  oceujDy  the 
pulpit  on  a  week  from  next  Sunday.  I  trust  it  may  be  the  will  of  God  to 
bless  me  in  this  position  with  His  abundant  gi'ace,  and  to  enable  me  to 
ean'y  forward  a  ministry  in  its  principles  and  character  such  as  that  to 
which  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  Church  has  been  long  accustomed. 

I  thank  you  for  your  kind  jiromises  made  in  your  resolution,  for  the 
residence  and  support  of  my  familj^,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  whatever 
will  be  found  necessary  for  me,  you  will  be  found  as  ready  and  willing  to 
supply. 

I  earnestly  pray  for  God's  blessing  upon  you  as  a  Church,  and  upon 
yourselves  and  families  individually.  May  the  gi'acious  presence  of  our 
Saviour  and  Redeemer  be  with  j'ou. 

I  am  respectfully  and  affectionately  your  friend  and  servant, 

Stephen  H.  Tyng. 

On  the  Sunday  named  he  began  his  ministry  preaching  on  the 
text,  *'  They  said  the  spirit  of  Elijah  doth  rest  on  Elisha,"  II.  Kings 
2:15.    After  fit  reference  to  the  historical  incident  he  said: 

The  application  which  I  purpose  to  make  of  this  testimony  will  be  very 
manifest.  My  ^-enerated  friend,  whose  successor  I  have  been  appointed 
(though  most  unworthy),  was  the  advocate  and  teacher  of  a  very  specific 
system,  both  of  Christian  truth  and  of  Christian  duty,  a  system  in  all  its 
principles  and  points  easily  perceived  and  easily  defined.  Of  this  system, 
he  was  long  one  of  the  most  important  and  influential  representatives  in 
our  Church.  And  I  mean  it  to  be  most  distinctly  understood,  that  there 
is  a  perfect  identity,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  sentiment,  and  pui'pose,  and 
principle,  in  the  ministry  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  appoint  to  succeed 
him.  So  that,  however  there  may  be  diversity  of  method,  and  inferiority 
in  wisdom  and  power  and  respect  in  the  succession  to  his  work,  yet  in 
doctrine  and  design  and  effort,  if  God  shall  please  to  bless  us,  '  the  spirit 
of  Elijah  shall  rest  on  Elisha.'    We  have  no  wish  to  conceal  or  to  qualify 


164  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

the  fact,  that  we  have  been  the  teachers  of  doctrines,  and  have  contended 
for  principles  and  rights  in  our  Church,  which  our  opposers  have  been 
fond  to  represent  as  a  troubling  of  Israel. 

With  him,  through  the  whole  course  of  my  ministry,  I  have  set  my  face 
as  a  flint,  for  the  maintenance  and  defense  of  great  and  imperishable  prin- 
ciples of  truth,  which  have  been  continually  at  stake.  With  a  mind  un- 
wavering. I  have  borne  in  other  places  of  duty,  a  testimony  unchanged. 
With  a  mind  unwavering  still,  I  am  sent  to  bear  in  this  place  a  testimony 
equally  unalterable  and  irrevocable  in  the  cause  of  Christ  and  His  gospel. 
To  attempt  to  cover  the  fact  that  our  Church  has  been  exceedingly  divided 
in  sentiment  on  many  important  points,  both  of  doctrine  and  practice, 
would  be  absurd.  To  depreciate  the  importance  of  the  principles  which 
have  been  constituted  the  points  of  this  division,  would  be  to  make  the 
division  itself,  wicked  and  reprehensible  in  a  high  degree.  But  in  this 
whole  history  and  warfare,  we  have  been  uniformly  acting  on  the  defensive, 
against  the  oppression  of  unauthorized  power,  and  the  imposition  of  un- 
scriptural  doctrines. 

Standing  on  the  platform  of  the  established  standards,  and  within  the 
laws  of  our  Church,  desiring  to  impose  nothing  upon  others,  but  resolved, 
by  the  help  of  God,  to  maintain  and  defend  our  liberty  of  action,  and 
our  system  of  instruction,  just  as  the  Lord  has  delivered  them,  and  as  the 
Church  has  received  the  same  and  committed  them  to  us ;  upon  the  platform 
of  Protestant  Episcopal  Christianity,  in  doctrine,  discipline,  and  worsliip, 
we  mean,  by  God's  help,  still  to  stand,  giving  place  by  subjection,  no, 
not  for  an  hour,  to  any  who  may  come  in  privily  to  spy  out  our  liberty, 
which  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  they  may  bring  us  into  bondage. 

We  shall  seek,  as  we  have  uniformly  sought,  the  things  which  make 
for  peace,  willing  to  make  any  concessions  which  truth  will  warrant,  for  its 
attainment;  but  never  ready  to  make  shipwreck  of  faith,  and  of  a  good 
conscience,  to  secure  it  merely  in  a  false  and  painted  image. 

It  may  be  well  asked,  and  it  is  often  asked,  what  are  the  things  for 
which  we  have  contended?  It  is  too  likely — amidst  the  bcAvildering'  and 
mazy  theology  of  the  current  day,  our  children  will  forget  them,  and  lose 
sight  of  them  entirely.  The  stream  of  Evangelical  tnith  flows  more  widely 
perhaps,  but,  I  fear,  far  less  deeply  than  it  used  to  do.  Our  more  youthful 
agents  are  exposed  to  much  confusion,  and  to  much  error  in  the  confusion 
which  their  undiscrimating  minds  will  be  vmable  to  detect  and  evolve. 
And  it  becomes  us  therefore,  to  state  plainly  what  are  the  jDrinciples  which 
we  have  held  absolutely  sacred,  and  which  we  have  never  felt  at  liberty 
to  compromise  for  an  hour.  What  are  the  instructions  which  have  marked 
the  spirit  of  Elijah?  What  are  the  instructions  which  Elisha  is  to  per- 
petuate? They  may  be  regarded  as  principles  of  doctrine,  of  worshiiD,  and 
of  Christian  and  ministerial  conduct  and  character. 

A  clear,  distinctive  ringing  enunciation  of  the  Evangelical  Prin- 
ciples for  which  St.  George's  has  stood  under  the  distinguished  and 
able  leadership  of  Dr.  Milnor  was  then  evolved,  and  he  continued: 

This  has  been  the  spirit  of  Elijah's  testimony.  This  is  the  spirit  of 
Elisha's  determined  testimony  also.  For  many  years  past  in  the  beloved 
city  and  the  dear  church  which  I  have  left   (I  believe  under  God's  own 


THE    TYNG    PEHIOD  165 

call)  for  you,  I  have  maintained,  and,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  not  without 
success,  tliis  unchanging  and  decided  stand.  I  have  no  new  course  to 
pursue  here.  I  come  bound  in  the  spirit  for  the  work  of  the  Lord.  It 
has  cost  me  the  breaking  of  the  strongest  ties  that  can  ever  entwine  my 
heart,  the  forsaking  in  presence  (I  can  never  do  it  in  heart)  of  the  most 
united  and  affectionate  flock  that  was  ever  gathered  under  a  pastor's  care, 
the  separation  of  me  and  mine  from  scenes  and  connections  which  in  every 
possible  aspect  were  most  dear  to  us.  I  cannot  hope  in  any  degi'ee  to  be 
personally  benefited  by  the  change.  You  can  never  honor  and  love  me 
more  than  I  have  been  loved  and  honored  there;  you  can  never  provide  for 
me  more  tenderly  and  affectionately  than  they  have  provided  for  me  there; 
and  since  the  step  has  been  taken  my  heart  has  often  misgiven  me  whether 
I  can  ever  be  more  useful  here  than  I  have  been  there.  But  I  have  come 
under  a  solemn  consciousness  of  duty  to  God  and  His  Church;  and  I  hope 
in  Him  that  my  comiiig  unto  you  will  not  be  in  vain.  You  have  the  reputa- 
tion of  an  affectionate  and  zealous  people.  I  trust  that  I  shall  find  you 
so.  I  can  bear  labor  and  toil  without  concern,  if  I  am  sustained  and 
lo\ed;  I  can  endure  outward  contests  without  fear,  if  I  have  a  flock  maited 
and  attentive;  ready  to  second  and  uphold  me  in  my  work  at  home.  That 
I  sliall  ever  remove  from  here,  but  to  the  house  appointed  for  all  the  living, 
is  not  at  my  age  to  be  supposed.  I  trust  that  I  shall  be  allowed  to  inherit 
with  the  place  of  my  venerable  friend  the  affection  Avhich  has  cherished  him 
in  life,  and  the  reverence  which  has  honored  his  grave  in  death.  And  that 
you  will  endeavor  to  make  up  to  me  the  kindness  and  tenderness  and  care 
Which  I  have  sacrificed  in  others,  not  without  a  painful  struggle,  for  your 
sakes.  Thus  shall  the  great  work  Avhich  we  have  here  to  do  prosper  in 
our  hands,  and  God,  our  great  God  and  Saviour,  be  with  us  and  give  us  His 
blessing. 

The  Rev.  Pierre  P.  Irving,  who  had  rendered  such  faithful  and 
acceptable  services  as  were  compatible  with  his  duties  in  the  posi- 
tion of  Secretary  of  the  Foreign  Committee,  pending  the  call  and 
settlement  of  the  new  rector,  now  relinquished  his  responsibility,  and 
the  vestry  voted  him  an  honorarium  of  five  hundred  dollars  in 
cordial  recognition  of  his  interest  in  the  parish  and  its  work. 

During  the  month  of  June  the  rector  effected  the  removal  of 
his  family  to  New  York,  but  being  unwilling  to  disturb  that  of 
the  late  rector  in  their  occupancy  of  the  rectory,  he  found  agree- 
able summer  accommodations  on  Staten  Island  and  later  in  a  board- 
ing-house in  Vesey  Street,  until  November  found  him  comfortably 
located  in  the  Beekman  Street  rectorj^  the  family  of  the  late  rector 
having  removed  to  Brooklyn.  The  vestry  meanwhile  had  made 
necessary  alterations  and  repairs,  had  defrayed  the  expenses  of  the 
rector's  removal  from  Philadelphia,  and  had  voted  him  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  as  rent  of  the  rectory  for  the  six  months  prior  to 
his  occupancy  of  it.  The  cordial  expressions  of  affectionate  welcome 
and  of  grateful  acceptance  of  his  ministry  by  all  classes  in  the  con- 


166  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

gregation,  were  most  encouraging  and  gratifying,  and  deepened  in 
him  the  conviction  that  although  he  had  severed  his  former  relations 
and  associations  with  much  reluctance,  he  had  acted  wisely  in  ac- 
cepting the  call  to  New  York. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  vestrj^  with  the  new  rector  presiding, 
July  12,  1845,  the  senior  warden  presented  the  acceptance  by  the 
Ecclesiastical  Authority  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York  of  the  "  Let- 
ters Dimissory  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng  of  the  Diocese  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. ' ' 

The  need  of  a  brick  building  for  a  lecture-room  with  more  suit- 
table  and  ample  accommodation  for  the  Sunday-school,  Bible,  and 
infant  classes  being  fully  recognized,  the  erection  of  such  a  structure 
on  the  ground  in  the  rear  of  the  churchyard  was  authorized  at  a 
cost  not  to  exceed  four  thousand  dollars.  The  committee  to  which 
the  matter  was  delegated  reported  in  October  that  the  estimates 
for  the  work  exceeded  that  sum,  and  as  the  season  was  so  far 
advanced  further  consideration  of  the  matter  was  postponed  until 
the  following  spring.  By  that  time,  however,  the  question  of  a 
chapel  or  new  church  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city  had  become  so 
imperative  and  engrossing  that  the  subject  of  increased  facilities 
for  work  on  the  old  site  was  entirely  overshadowed  and  allowed  to 
lapse. 

This  question  of  the  future  of  St.  George's  was  a  vital  one,  and 
much  diversity  of  view  developed.  The  original  idea  of  the  late 
rector,  embodied  in  the  futile  application  which  had  been  made  to 
Trinity  Church  for  the  provision  by  that  Corporation  of  an  up-town 
site,  was  that  St.  George's  would  erect  thereon  and  make  provision 
to  maintain  a  chapel  with  free  seats.  By  circumstances  and  the 
guiding  hand  of  the  new  rector,  this  chapel  plan  evolved  into  a  more 
ambitious  scheme  of  a  costlier  edifice  with  sold  and  rented  pews, 
in  which  to  minister  to  those  parishioners  who  had  already  moved 
up-town  and  others  in  the  new  environment;  the  culmination  of 
which  evolution  was  to  result  in  making  the  new  church  St.  George 's 
and  the  old  edifice  in  Beekman  Street  the  chapel. 

It  was  inevitable  that  opposition  should  arise  to  carrying  out  this 
scheme.  Attachment  to  the  old  church  building  with  its  personal 
associations,  and  persuasion  of  the  unwisdom  of  the  plan  proposed, 
induced  in  some  of  the  parishioners  an  attitude  of  pronounced  and 
persistent  antagonism.  Events,  however,  quite  amply  vindicated 
the  prescience  of  the  advocates  for  progress,  but  the  results  were 
not  achieved  without  much  difficulty,  strife,  self-sacrifice,  and  strenu- 
ous effort. 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  167 

The  original  resolution  which  inaugurated  the  up-town  movement 
was  introduced  in  the  vestry  meeting  of  February  26,  1846,  and 
was  in  these  few  words :  ' '  That  it  is  incumbent  upon  this  Corpora- 
tion to  erect  a  chapel  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city  to  be  under  the 
charge  of  the  Rector  of  this  Church  and  connected  with  it."  That 
so  important  a  matter,  however,  might  be  decided  without  undue 
haste,  consideration  of  it  was  postponed  until  March  7th,  at  which 
date  a  "  full  and  protracted  discussion  was  held."  Three  members 
of  the  vestry  were  opposed  to  the  project  and  fought  for  delay,  but 
the  resolution  was  adopted  and  a  committee  consisting  of  William 
Whitlock,  Jr.,  John  Stearns,  M.D.,  and  Fred  S.  Winston  was  ap- 
pointed to  select  a  suitable  site,  the  same  gentlemen  being  sub- 
sequently appointed  the  building  committee  for  the  new  church. 
On  the  16th  of  the  same  month,  the  committee  submitted  for  con- 
sideration several  eligible  sites  without  distinctly  recommending 
either,  leaving  the  vestry  to  decide  upon  their  respective  advantages. 
Those  most  favorably  considered  were  the  lots  on  Fourteenth  Street 
and  Irving  Place,  where  the  Academy  of  Music  now  stands,  and 
the  northwest  corner  of  Seventeenth  Street  and  Fourth  Avenue, 
where  until  a  few  years  ago  the  Everett  House  was  located,  but 
which  was  then  "  an  old  and  neglected  garden."  The  latter  site 
was  earnestly  urged  by  the  rector,  who  objected  to  the  ground  on 
Fourteenth  Street  "  as  being  evidently  upon  a  future  thorough- 
fare for  active  business,  "  for  which  imagination,"  he  writes,  "  I 
was  ridiculed  by  some  who  doubted  any  such  further  growth  of  the 
city."  Of  the  site  he  favored  he  writes:  *'  The  ground  on  Seven- 
teenth Street  I  earnestly  selected  as  facing  Union  Square  and  in 
its  relation  manifestly  secure  as  well  as  attractive.  As  I  look  at 
it  now  facing  south  on  that  beautiful  square  with  all  its  connections, 
I  can  never  lose  the  impression  of  its  admirable  adaptation  to  our 
purpose  and  prosperity,  but  I  was  overruled  by  gentlemen  of  busi- 
ness habits  and  long  experience. ' ' 

The  vestry  decided  in  favor  of  the  Fourteenth  Street  site,  and 
the  committee  was  authorized  to  offer  thirty-five  thousand  dollars 
to  David  S.  Jones  for  the  same  and  to  procure  plans  and  specifica- 
tions with  a  view  to  building  thereon.  Two  members  of  the  vestry 
who  voted  in  the  negative,  Brittain  L.  Woolley  and  James  A.  Burtus, 
then  presented  a  paper  reciting  their  objections;  which  at  their 
request  was  entered  upon  the  records. 

Within  three  days,  however,  a  new  aspect  was  given  to  the  situa- 
tion by  the  receipt  of  a  proposition  from  Peter  G.  Stuj^v^esant, 
offering  to  give  a  plot  of  land  104  feet  on  Rutherford  Place  by  175 


168  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

feet  on  Sixteenth  Street,  as  a  site  for  the  proposed  chapel.  The 
vestry  was  convened  in  special  meeting,  March  19th,  to  receive  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Site  embodying  this  generous  offer,  and 
gratefully  accepted  Mr.  Stuyvesant's  munificent  gift  to  the  Cor- 
poration, tendering  to  him  the  "  assurance  of  their  determination 
to  commence  immediately  the  erection  of  a  church  building  of  a 
style  of  architecture  and  an  extent  of  accommodation  for  those  who 
desire  a  place  of  worship  in  that  vicinity,  such  as  shall  prove  a 
permanent  and  appropriate  record  of  his  liberality  and  a  great 
and  lasting  blessing  to  our  Church."  It  was  also  resolved  that 
a  suitable  pew  be  set  apart  in  the  new  church  for  the  family  of 
Mr.  Stuyvesant  to  be  forever  free  from  tax  or  ground  rent,  and 
the  committee  was  further  instructed  to  negotiate  with  Mr.  Stuy- 
vesant for  the  purchase  of  the  lot  on  Eutherford  Place  adjoining 
that  on  which  the  church  was  to  be  placed. 

The  building  committee  in  April  presented  drawings  from  vari- 
ous architects  for  the  proposed  church,  expressing  their  preference 
for  the  one  drawn  by  Blesch  and  Eidlitz  in  the  Byzantine  or  Early 
Christian  style  of  architecture.  After  due  examination  of  the  pro- 
posed plans  the  vestry  unanimously  adopted  that  of  Blesch  and 
Eidlitz,  and  the  work  was  at  once  undertaken  and  diligently  prose- 
cuted. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  new  church  was  laid  on  Tuesday  after- 
noon, the  23d  of  June,  1846,  at  five  o'clock,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  William 
Meade,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Virginia,  The  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  P. 
Mcllvaine,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Ohio,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Alfred  Lee,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Delaware,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Carlton  Chase,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Alonzo  Potter,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 
Pennsylvania,  together  with  a  large  number  of  the  clergy  of  New 
York  and  of  other  Dioceses,  were  also  present.  The  procession 
was  formed  at  the  house  of  Dr.  William  H.  Milnor  in  Eighteenth 
Street  near  Third  Avenue ;  an  address  by  the  rector  was  delivered 
to  the  very  large  assembly  present,  and  the  entire  function  was 
conducted  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  a  deep  impression  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  work  thus  happily  inaugurated.  The  vestry  at  its 
next  meeting  duly  expressed  their  thanks  to  Bishop  Meade  for 
his  services  and  made  provision  for  his  expenses  in  attending  the 
laying  of  the  corner-stone. 

The  property  of  the  church  upon  the  sale  of  which  the  Corpora- 
tion relied  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  new  building,  as  well  as  that 
upon  which  the  old  church  stood  in  Beekman  Street  and  the  new 
edifice  on  Stuyvesant  Square,  is  herewith  described  in  a  schedule 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD 


169 


presented  to  the  vestry  in  June,  1846,  by  a  special  committee  ap- 
pointed to  examine  the  title  deeds  and  leases : 


SCHEDULE   OF  THE   PROPERTY   BELONGING  TO   THE   CORPORATION   OP   ST.    GEORGE  3 
CHURCH   IN   THE    CITY   OP   NEW   YORK   ON   THE    IST   MAY,    1846 


Corporation  of  Trinity  Church 

To 

Corporation  of  St.  George'  Church 


The  Same  to  the  Same 


The  Same  to  the  Same 


Cornelius  J.  Bogert 

To 

Corporation  of  St.  George's  Church 


Thomas  Burling 

To 

Corporation  of  St.  George's  Church 


Corporation  of  Grace  Church 

To 

Corporation  of  St.  George's  Church 


Peter  G.  Stujrvesant 

To 

Corporation  of  St.  George's  Church 


Deed  dated  4th  August,  1812,  for  Church 
and  two  parcels  of  Ground 

11?;- £r[   by  134.9  in  depth. 

Deed  dated  13th  Mav,  1812,  for  24  Lots  of 
Ground  Nos.  112-236-237-238-325-342-390 
-423-426-433-436-450-481-548-550-577- 
612-613-*665-*668-19-20-21-25.  *  Sold  to 
the  city. 

Dated  1st  April,  1814,  for  8  Lots  of  Ground 
Nos.  341-347-425-461-491-571-572-573. 

Dated  1st  March,  1813,  for  House  and  Lot  on 
CUff  Street 

Rear*  [  23.3  by  100  feet.  Lecture  Room,  &c. 

Dated  13th  July,  1814,  for  Lot  on  Beekman 
St.,  53.3  F.  front,  283  F.  to  Ferry  St.,  10  F. 
on  Ferry  St.,  thence  S.W.  114  F.,  thence 
N.W.  56  F.,  thence  S.W.  168  F.  Subject 
to  right  of  alley. 

Deeds  of  exchange  for  Lots  on  Chambers 
Street  dated  1st  May,  1817. 


Deed  dated  April  1st.,  1846,  for  Lot  of 
Ground  on  Rutherford  Place  and  16th 
Street  104  F.  by  175  F. 


The  prospect  of  increasing  duties  in  connection  with  the  gathering 
of  a  congregation  in  the  new  field  induced  the  vestry  to  appoint 
the  rector's  son,  the  Rev.  Dudley  Atkins  Tyng,  who  had  just  gradu- 
ated from  the  Alexandria  Seminary  and  been  ordained  by  the 
Bishop  of  Virginia,  as  his  assistant  from  August  1st.  The  relation 
thus  established,  however,  was  terminated  in  the  following  February 
by  the  resignation  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tyng  to  accept  a  rectorship  in 
Columbus,  Ohio. 

The  rector  meanwhile  had  undertaken,  in  addition  to  his  morn- 
ing and  afternoon  services  in  Beekman  Street,  a  Sunday-evening 
service  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  Eighth  Street  at  its  junction 
with  Astor  Place,  which  had  been  secured  by  the  vestry  for  the 


170  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

RECAPITULATION  AND  PARTICULARS  OF  PRODUCTIVE  PROPERTY 


CB. 

ST. 

TIME 

THAT 

PRESENT 

2ND 

p'y'ble 

PAYABLE 

NOS. 

NOS. 

SITUATION 

LEASE    HOLDERS 

LEASE   EXPIRES 

RENTS 

PERIOD 

MARCH 

NOV. 

112 

38 

S.  Side  Barclay 

J.  W.  Tompkins 

2  5  March,  '52 

$150  an. 

No  Ren'l 

$iSo 

342 

19 

N.     •■    Murray 

John  H.  Coster 

'S3 

17s    " 

I7S 

423 

62 

S.      "    Chambers 

Tho's  Mather 

'        'S2 

ISO    " 

ISO 

426 

68 

• '      *'           * ' 

Estate  Joel  Post 

'        'S3 

ISO    " 

ISO 

433 

82 

•*      •*           ** 

Rob't  Benson 

'        '52 

150 

ISO 

436 

88 

E.     "    Church 

Ph.  Hone 

44         4 

'        '52 

ISO    " 

ISO 

4SO 

40 

N.     "    Warren 

Dan'l  Stanton 

44         4 

'       'S3 

ISO    " 

150 

481 

42 

E.  Stevens'  Sons 

41                   4 

'         'S2 

ISO    " 

ISO 

236 

8 

S .      "    Murray 

E.  Parmly 

•  I     May,   's3 

ISO    " 

ISO 

237 

10 

« 4       11         « « 

' ' 

•  4  4        4 

S3 

ISO    " 

150 

338 

12 

'       'S3 

ISO    ' 

ISO 
May 

SSO 

69 

N.     "    Chambers 

Est.  G.  Bradish 

i_M_ 

iy,  "52 

ISO    " 

$150 

|3S 

los 

E.     "    Greenwich 

Est.  Wm.  Merrill 

'S3 

ISO    " 

ISO 

341 

19 

N.     ' '    Murray 

S.  S.  Gray 

'       'S4 

I7S    " 

17s 

347 

9 

**      *  *           " 

Rutson  Suckley 

'       'S4 

17s    " 

17s 

42s 

80 

S.      "    Chambers 

Isaac  Sayrs 

'       'S4 

ISO    " 

ISO 

461 

118 

'  *      * '           * ' 

Est.  W.  C.  Mulligan 

'       'S4 

ISO    " 

ISO 

491 

146 

'  *      • '           " 

F.  A.  Everard 

'       '54 

ISO    " 

ISO 

325 

9 

"      "    Warren 

Dr.  E.  Delafield 

'       '52 

325  s.  a. 

to  be  app'd 

162  .So 

$162  .SO 

548 

91 

N .     "    Chambers 

Isaac  Moses,  Jr. 

'       'so 

2SO        " 

no  ren'l 

125 

125 

S77 

91 

S.      "    Reade 

John  A.  Underwood 

'       'S3 

ISO      " 

to  be  app'd 

75 

75 

612 

137 

4   t                14                            4   4 

Jas.  Maurell 

'       '53 

ISO      " 

75 

75 

613 

139 

"                 "                            " 

Henry  Buttle 

'       'S3 

ISO      " 

7S 

75 

19 

117 

E.     "    Greenwich 

Bowman  &  Johnson 

'S4 

ISO      " 

no  ren'l 

75 

75 

20 

115 

44      44           44 

'  * 

'       'S4 

ISO      " 

44     44 

75 

75 

31 

113 

44              14                        (« 

H.  W.  Titus 

'       'S4 

150      " 

44          14 

75 

75 

571 

78 

N.     "    Reade 

John  Skinner 

'     "ss 

I7S      " 

to  be  app'd 

87  .SO 

87.50 

S72 

80 

44              14                        44 

Rich'd  Ten  Eyck 

'     'ss 

27s      " 

44        44              4  1 

137.50 

137  .SO 

573 

99 

E.     "    Church 

Jane  Raymond 

'     'ss 

80      " 

"       "              " 

40 

40 

390 

,73 

S.      "    Warren 

Dr.  E.  N.  Bibby 

4  Nov. 

,   i86s 

ISO 

no  ren'l 

ISO 

Vmegi 

irY'di 

n  rear  of  the  Church 

Jas.  Meinell 

100      " 

50 

SO 

CeUar 

jnClif 

[  Street 

C.  R.  Degen 

75      " 

37  -SO 

37. SO 

23  Leases,  no  renewal 
7       "      to  be  appraised 

30  Lots 


Payable  May 
Payable  March 


$2,190.00  $1,240.00 
2,190.00 
1,675.00 

Total  $5,105.00 


•Rent  payable  March  25. 
Note: — Two  of  the  original  lots,  Nos.  665  and  668,  had  been  taken  by  the  city  in  widening  of  Reade  St» 


purpose  of  thus  accommodating  the  nucleus  of  the  congregation 
which  was  to  occupy  St.  George's  Church,  Stuj^esant  Square. 
The  popularity  of  the  rector  as  a  preacher  sufficed  to  fill  this  edi- 
fice night  after  night  to  its  fullest  capacity,  and  the  fruits  of  his 
ministry  in  this  place  in  no  small  degree  contributed  to  the  rapidly 
increasing  constituency  of  the  new  church,  and  came  to  be  both 
in  character  and  influence  one  of  its  most  valuable  elements. 

The  exhausting  labors  of  the  rector,  who  had  continued  to  officiate 
in  the  old  church  as  well  as  on  Sunday  evenings  as  stated,  together 
with  the  ceaseless  cares  and  anxieties  connected  with  the  erection  of 
the  new  structure,  superadded  to  his  unremitting  pastoral  work, 
proved  to  be  such  a  strain  upon  his  strength  as  to  indicate  the 
necessity  of  a  respite  from  duty.  The  vestry  consented  to  his  tem- 
porary absence  and  made  generous  pecuniary  provision  for  a  Euro- 
pean trip.     He  gratefully  accepted  the  prof  erred  kindness,  and  on 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  171 

the  16th  of  April  took  passage  on  the  packet  ship  Argo  for  Havre, 
as  the  guest  of  its  owner,  Mr.  Whitlock,  his  senior  warden  and 
devoted  friend.  His  journeyings  were  confined  to  France,  Italy, 
and  England,  and  he  reached  home  safely  on  the  30th  of  July. 

Meanwhile  the  vestry,  having  failed  to  secure  the  fuller  and 
further  use  of  the  building  on  Eighth  Street,  engaged  for  the 
worship  of  the  up-town  congregation  the  large  chapel  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York,  located  on  Washington  Square,  at  a  rent  of 
one  thousand  dollars  for  the  year  beginning  October  1,  1847. 

In  the  preceding  February,  in  order  that  suitable  accommodations 
might  be  provided  for  the  future  Sunday-school  and  other  work  of 
the  parish,  the  building  committee  had  been  authorized  to  procure 
suitable  ground  and  erect  a  proper  building  thereon.  It  was  not, 
however,  until  September  14th  in  the  following  year  that  the  com- 
mittee reported  that  having  been  presented  with  a  strip  of  land 
15X104  feet  in  the  rear  of  the  church  lot  in  addition  to  Mr.  Stuy- 
vesant's  original  gift,  they  had  now  purchased  from  his  heirs  an 
adjoining  plot  of  ground  90X92  feet,  and  submitted  a  plan  for 
the  proposed  building,  which  plan  was  approved  and  immediate 
erection  ordered  at  a  cost  not  exceeding  seven  thousand  dollars. 
The  contract  was  subsequently  let  to  C.  C.  Jacobus  for  six  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  ninety  dollars. 

That  the  interests  of  the  congregation  in  Beekman  Street  might 
not  suffer  from  the  increasing  demands  of  the  new  enterprise  upon 
the  rector's  time  and  strength,  the  vestry  determined  to  secure  a 
permanent  assistant  minister  for  the  parish,  with  special  reference 
to  duty  in  the  old  church.  The  Rev.  Thomas  M.  Clark,  then  assist- 
ant minister  in  Trinity  Church,  Boston  (who  later  became  the  sec- 
ond Bishop  of  Ehode  Island),  was  chosen  by  the  vestry  September 
15,  1847.  The  salary  offered  was  three  thousand  dollars,  with  the 
use  of  the  rectory  No.  82  Beekman  Street  at  a  charge  of  six  hun- 
dred dollars,  a  house  for  the  rector  having  been  rented  in  Sixteenth 
Street  near  the  new  church.  Unhappily,  however,  the  election  was 
declined,  and  the  rector  was  authorized  to  employ  such  temporary 
assistance  as  might  be  required. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  expediency  and  wisdom  of  the 
plans  of  the  rector  and  vestry  in  the  erection  of  the  elegant  edifice 
on  Stuyvesant  Square  would  go  unchallenged  by  some  of  the  peo- 
ple, especially  those  whose  personal  attachment  to  the  old  church 
intensified  their  reluctance  to  the  transfer  of  emphasis  to  the  new 
up-town  enterprise.  There  was  dissatisfaction,  which  at  length  cul- 
minated in  various  forms  of  persistent  opposition,  and  even  after 


172  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

the  congregation  had  fully  discussed  the  matter,  and  it  was  brought 
to  a  clear  issue  and  decided,  at  the  vestry  election  in  April,  1848,  by 
the  elimination  of  the  three  members  who  had  constituted  the 
opposing  minoritj'^  and  the  choice  of  a  vestry  in  thorough  accord 
with  the  policy  of  the  rector, — still,  the  agitation  was  kept  up  and 
various  efforts  made  to  thwart  the  will  of  the  rector  and  united 
vestry  and  the  majority  of  the  people,  even  to  the  point  of  "  urgent- 
ly requesting  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  to  withhold  the 
release  now  sought  by  the  vestry  of  St.  George's  Church  until  such 
release  can  be  made  to  preserve  the  preservation  of  '  St.  George's 
Church  in  the  city  of  New  York  '  in  its  primitive  edifice  and  sta- 
tion." In  other  words,  they  sought  to  make  it  impossible  for  the 
vestry  to  pay  for  the  new  church  until  the  wishes  of  the  malcontents 
in  the  old  one  had  been  complied  with.  It  would  be  wearisome 
to  dwell  upon  the  details  of  this  unfortunate  episode  in  St.  George's 
history,  which  interrupted  the  long-time  peace  of  the  congregation 
with  bickering  and  bitterness,  and  which  incidentally  occasioned 
the  only  exercise  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  which  Dr.  Tyng  was 
called  to  make  during  his  long  ministry.  But  some  review  of  the 
salient  points  at  issue  is  necessary  to  an  understanding  of  the 
period  of  transition  from  Beekman  Street  to  Stuj^esant  Square. 

There  had  been  at  no  time  a  disposition  on  any  one's  part  to 
discontinue  services  in  old  St.  George's.  But  as  members  of  the 
old  congregation  in  increasing  numbers  were  moving  up-town,  and 
the  new  edifice  was  nearing  completion  and  the  new  congregation 
gathered  in  the  Chapel  of  the  University  was  rapidly  growing, 
the  wisdom  of  the  rector's  plan,  cordially  concurred  in  by  the 
vestry,  to  make  the  new  building  the  parish  church,  retaining  the 
old  as  a  free  chapel,  became  more  and  more  apparent.  This  was 
indeed  a  modification  of  the  original  idea  entertained  at  the  close 
of  Dr.  Milnor's  ministry,  which  was  to  build  a  free  chapel  in  an 
up-town  quarter.  But  conditions  had  rapidly  changed  with  the 
inroads  of  business  and  shifting  of  population  incident  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  fast-growing  city.  And  it  was  failure  to  recog- 
nize this  fact,  coupled  with  personal  attachment  to  the  old  building 
in  Beekman  Street,  which  had  led  those  represented  by  a  minority 
in  the  vestry,  first,  to  deprecate  and  try  to  limit  the  expenditure 
on  the  new  site,  and  second,  to  propose  to  set  off  the  new  congre- 
gation when  gathered  in  the  new  church  as  an  independent  organiza- 
tion, while  retaining  the  name  and  prestige  of  St.  George's  for  the 
Beekman  Street  church.  The  rector's  plan  was  embodied  in  the 
following  resolutions  which  he  presented  to  the  vestry  March  9, 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  173 

1848,  with  the  request  that  they  lie  on  the  table  for  future  con- 
sideration : 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  intention  of  this  vestry  that  the  church  edifice 
which  they  are  now  building  on  Stuyvesant  Square  and  which  was  originally 
proposed  as  a  free  chapel  in  connection  with  St.  George's  Church,  shall 
be  considered  and  used  after  its  completion  for  public  worship  as  the 
Parish  Church  of  the  parish  of  *  St.  George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New 
York '  and  shall  be  known  by  the  title  of  '  St.  George's  Church,  New  York.' 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  intention  of  this  vestry  that  the  church  edifice 
in  Beekman  Street  heretofore  known  as  the  parish  church  of  *  St.  George's 
Church  in  the  City  of  New  York,'  shall  be  maintained  as  a  chapel  in 
connection  with  St.  George's  Church,  under  the  sole  and  entii-e  control  of 
the  '  rector,  church  wardens,  and  vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church '  to  be 
known  by  the  title  of  '  St.  George's  Chapel/  the  seats  of  which  shall  at  some 
suitable  time  hereafter  be  made  free  from  all  ground  rent  charge  to  be 
paid  to  St.  George's  Church. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  not  the  wish  or  intention  of  this  vestry  under  any 
circumstances  hereafter  to  sell  or  alienate  the  said  chapel,  and  ground  on 
which  it  stands  in  Beekman  Street,  but  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  or 
building  another  chapel,  in  some  more  convenient  location  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  if  hereafter  such  a  course  shall  be  considered 
most  expedient  for  the  interests  of  the  congregation  who  shall  assemble 
in  said  chapel  and  best  calculated  to  promote  the  religious  and  temporal 
welfare  of  the  parish. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  vestry  to  elect  a  permanent 
assistant  minister  of  St.  George's  Church  at  some  suitable  period  here- 
after, whose  services,  duties  and  responsibilities  in  connection  with  the 
worship  and  pastoral  duties  of  the  whole  parish,  including  the  church 
and  the  chapel,  shall  be  regulated  by  the  direction  of  the  rector. 

When  these  resolutions  were  brought  up  for  consideration,  April 
13,  1848,  another  series  embodying  the  views  of  the  opposition  were 
presented  by  Hiram  Ketchum  and  both  propositions  were  laid  on 
the  table  pending  the  congregational  meeting  for  the  annual  elec- 
tion— and  so  the  issue  was  joined. 

To  what  extent  the  congregation  might  sympathize  with  the  views 
of  the  minority  in  the  vestry  was  about  to  be  determined,  and  the 
result  was  awaited  with  no  little  anxiety.  In  order  that  there  might 
be  no  misunderstanding  as  to  the  issues  involved,  the  rector  had 
prepared  a  full  statement  of  the  case,  which  he  read  to  the  con- 
gregation on  Sunday,  April  16th,  in  giving  notice  of  the  election 
to  be  held  on  Easter  Tuesday.  In  this  carefully  prepared  paper  he 
explained  the  qualifications  of  voters  and  urged  every  member  of 
the  congregation  entitled  to  vote  to  exercise  that  right  intelligently 
and  conscientiously.  He  sketched  the  progress  of  the  movement 
for  the  erection  of  a  new  church  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  and 
stated  that  "  the  very  important  prospect  of  religious  usefulness 


174  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

which  was  offered  in  this  proposed  enterprise  was  one  of  the  con- 
siderations presented  to  him  by  the  committee  which  visited  him  in 
Philadelphia  to  induce  his  acceptance  of  the  rectorship,  and  that 
the  exhibition  of  this  prospect  was  the  main  inducement  which  led 
me  to  believe  it  my  duty  to  accept. ' '  His  own  view  from  the  outset 
was 

that  it  would  be  a  better  plan  to  erect  the  new  church  proposed,  which  was 
to  be  in  the  midst  of  a  rising,  flourishing,  and  prominent  part  of  the  city, 
for  the  parish  church  of  St.  George's  Chiu'ch,  and  to  constitute  the  old 
church  a  free  chapel  as  proposed,  to  be  connected  with  it.  This  view  I 
have  invariably  presented  on  all  occasions  since,  as  my  conviction  of  duty 
and  interest  in  the  case.  I  have  embodied  it  in  a  series  of  resolutions 
which  I  presented  to  the  vestry  Mai-ch  9,  1848,  as  distinctly  exi^ressing  my 
judgment  in  the  case.  And  this  one  fact  constitutes  the  only  change  pro- 
posed by  me,  from  the  original  plan  proposed  by  my  venerated  predecessor, 
whose  views  in  this  enterprise  it  has  been  my  solemn  desire  fully  to  carry 
out,  a  change  which  I  have  much  reason  to  believe  he  would  have  approved 
and  adopted,  had  his  life  been  spared.  In  j)reseutuig  these  resolutions  I 
have  carried  out  the  original  plan  jiroposed  in  the  first  midertaking  of  this 
enterprise,  with  the  single  change  of  constituting  the  new  edifice  the  parish 
church,  and  the  old  one  the  free  ehaiDel.  This  is  the  plan  with  which  I 
have  gone  on  from  the  beginning  in  this  undertaking,  some  of  my  own 
views  of  which,  and  reasons  for  which,  I  propose  to  present  to  the  con- 
gregation. 

It  seemed  to  me  unwise  to  attempt  to  maintain  St.  George's  parish  ia 
a  location  which  Avas  every  day  failing  to  collect  a  j^ermanent  congregation, 
and  to  ex])end  the  funds  of  the  Cori^oration  for  the  erection  of  an  edifice, 
which  should  be  considered  a  chapel  merely,  in  a  portion  of  the  city  certain 
to  be  permanent  as  the  residence  of  private  and  settled  families.  It  ap- 
peared to  me  unnecessarj'  and  wrong  to  erect  a  building  for  free  worship 
in  the  veiy  midst  of  a  community  perfectly  able  to  sustain  the  worship  and 
ordinances  of  the  gospel  for  themselves,  and  to  continue  an  imposed  tax 
upon  a  building  where  the  worshippers  were  to  a  much  larger  extent  in 
limited  circumstances,  and  necessarily  transitory  in  their  conneciion  with 
the  church.  I  have,  therefore,  constantly  urged  that  we  should  build  a 
church  for  the  parish  in  the  new  location,  and  maintain  a  chaj^el  for  the 
public  in  the  old  one.  Such  a  church  the  vestry  are  now  erecting,  and 
on  my  part,  and  on  the  part  of  the  majority  of  the  vestry,  with  such 
designs. 

The  vestry  now  to  be  elected  would  finally  decide  between  the 
opposing  series  of  pending  resolutions  then  lying  upon  the  table, 
and  the  congregation  in  their  choice  of  a  vestry  had  now  an  oppor- 
tunity of  giving  a  practical  declaration  of  their  judgment  in  the 
matters  involved.  One  member  of  the  vestry  on  leaving  the  church 
declared  that  the  assertions  of  the  rector's  public  statement  were 
false,  and  the  same  person,  B.  L.  Woolley,  at  several  informal  meet- 
ings which  were  held  within  the  next  few  days,  reiterated  this 
charge. 


I 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  175 

The  eventful  election  was  held  on  Easter  Tuesday,  1848.  There 
were  one  hundred  and  fifty-nine  ballots  cast,  with  the  result  that 
B.  L.  WooUey,  Felix  A.  Huntington,  and  Hiram  Ketchum  were 
dropped  from  the  vestry ;  William  Whitlock,  Jr.,  was  re  -  elected 
warden  and  Fred  S.  Winston  was  promoted  to  be  warden  in 
place  of  Dr.  Stearns,  deceased;  the  remaining  members  of  the  old 
vestry,  Thomas  L.  Callender,  Samuel  M.  Cornell,  Adolphus  Lane, 
and  Henry  Anstice,  were  re-elected,  and  the  vacancies  filled  by  the 
choice  of  Joseph  Lawrence,  Jacob  Leroy,  Peter  G.  Arcularius,  and 
Samuel  Hopkins.  Thus  after  a  period  of  considerable  excitement 
and  much  bitterness,  on  the  part  of  a  few,  the  policy  of  the  rector 
and  vestry  was  amply  sustained  by  the  vote  of  three-fifths  of  the 
members  of  the  Corporation  present  and  voting. 

Mr.  WooUey,  however,  did  not  cease  both  publicly  and  privately 
to  defame  the  rector.  Two  letters  containing  various  charges  against 
his  personal  character  which  had  failed  to  elicit  a  reply  he  caused 
to  be  printed  in  The  Commercial  Advertiser  of  July  19th,  with  an 
introductory  note  addressed  to  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  con- 
taining another  charge  of  "  wilful  and  deliberate  falsehood,"  and 
on  November  30th,  in  the  Courier  and  E^iquirer,  he  published  a 
charge  against  the  rector  "  of  gross  and  fraudulent  conduct  in  the 
conducting  of  the  late  election  of  the  vestry."  On  the  day  follow- 
ing the  publication  of  the  earlier  letters,  the  vestry  met,  without  the 
presence  of  the  rector,  and  adopted  the  following,  which  was  ordered 
to  be  published  in  The  Commercial  Advertiser,  and  which  on  the 
next  day,  July  21st,  duly  appeared  in  that  paper : 

A  letter  addressed  to  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  Church,  N.  Y., 
and  two  letters  addressed  to  the  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  rector  of  the 
same,  by  B.  L.  Woolley,  published  in  the  Commercial  Advertiser  of  last 
evening  having  been  laid  before  the  church  wardens  and  vestrymen  of  said 
Church  at  a  meeting  held  this  afternoon,  the  following  resolutions  were 
unanimously  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  the  imputations  on  Dr.  Tyng  of  false  statements  and 
unworthy  motives  and  conduct  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as  rector  of 
this  parish  and  in  his  connection  with  the  erection  of  the  church  on  Stuy- 
vesant  Square  are  utterly  unfounded  and  untrue  and  meet  our  unqualified 
reprobation,  as  we  believe  they  will  also  of  every  respectable  member  of 
our  Church  and  congregation. 

Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  recent  action  of  a  large  majority  of  the 
congregation  fully  justifying  the  rector  and  vestry  in  the  erection  of  the 
church  on  Stuwesant  Square,  and  of  the  evident  spirit  dictating  said 
letters  it  is  expedient  and  unnecessary  that  either  the  rector  or  vestry- 
should  make  any  specific  reply  to  the  unfounded  and  indecorous  charges 
they  contain. 

Resolved,  That  the  fervent  piety,  unwearied  zeal,  single  hearted  devotion 


176  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

of  eminent  gifts  to  the  duties  of  his  sacred  calling  and  incessant  labor 
in  every  good  word  and  work  tending  to  promote  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
happiness  of  mankind,  ought  to  shield  the  character  and  reputation  of  our 
rector  from  the  assaults  of  enemies  and  at  all  times  to  render  the  shafts 
of  malignity  impotent  and  powerless. 

This  Woolley  incident  was  the  most  painful  episode  in  Dr. 
Tyng's  life.  As  Mr.  Woolley  had  published  "  a  grossly  false  and 
malicious  libel,"  the  rector  served  upon  him  the  "  advertisement  ''' 
provided  in  the  rubric  of  the  Holy  Communion  Office  and  notified 
the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Diocese.  A  commission  was  instituted 
consisting  of  the  Rev.  Henry  J.  Wliitehouse,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  William 
H.  Lewis,  the  Hon.  Luther  Bradish,  and  Stephen  Cambreling,  Esq., 
who  held  their  first  meeting  on  the  22d  of  January,  1849.  In  sub- 
mitting the  case  to  them  Dr.  Tyng  said : 

I  present  this  whole  matter  to  the  consideration  of  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners, desiring  nothing  but  a  thorough  examination  of  the  facts  in  the 
ease.  The  board  will  see  the  ^^tal  importance  of  this  examination  to  my- 
self. Charges  of  wicked  and  immoral  conduct  have  been  made  against 
me,  which,  if  in  the  opinion  of  this  board  are  sustained  by  facts,  and  the 
truth  of  which  are  proved  to  their  satisfaction,  involve  the  consequent 
necessity  of  my  own  personal  trial  before  the  proper  ecclesiastical  tribunal. 
He  has  done  the  utmost  in  his  power  to  injure  and  destroy  me.  He  has 
publicly  and  repeatedly  accused  me  of  wilful  falsehood,  arbitrary  and 
violent  conduct,  a  creating  of  divisions  in  the  congregation  committed  to 
me,  and  pecuniary  fraud.  To  the  utmost  extent  of  the  influence  of  his 
name  and  character  he  has  attempted  to  destroy  my  character,  to  break 
up  my  livelihood,  to  annihilate  my  ministry,  and  to  bring  reproach  upon 
my  family.  He  has  had  all  the  advantage  in  doing  this,  of  his  secret  and 
uninterrupted  personal  representations,  of  his  long  residence  in  the  com- 
munity, of  his  occupation  of  many  responsible  offices  of  public  trust,  of 
his  long  connection  with  St.  George's  Church,  of  my  position  as  a  stranger 
in  this  community,  brought  here  by  his  action  and  consent,  and  therefore" 
supposed  to  be  personally  known  to  him.  Had  not  God  raised  me  up 
friends  in  this  city,  from  among  strangers,  and  protected  me  from  the 
effect  of  his  assaults  upon  me,  his  efforts  would  probably  have  accom- 
plished their  purpose,  and  he  would  have  triumphed  over  the  destruction 
of  me  and  my  family.  I  have  borne  these  assaults  without  reply  or  vindi- 
cation of  myself.  He  has  repeatedly  represented  my  silence  to  be  from  a 
consciousness  of  my  guilt,  and  the  impossibility  of  denying  the  charges 
which  he  has  made.  I  have  taken  no  steps  in  any  way  to  avenge  the  bitter 
wrongs  which  I  have  received  through  his  means. 

For  more  than  nine  montlas  past,  he  has  persevered  in  a  system  of  secret 
persecutions  and  misrepresentations  of  me,  which  have  alienated  many 
persons  from  me.  destroyed  my  happiness,  created  distrust  in  reference  to 
my  ministry,  and  exceedingly  undermined  my  health. 

No  earthly  consideration  could  have  induced  me  to  undergo  all  that  I 
have  been  thus  requii'ed  to  bear.  This  whole  important  subject  is  now 
brought,  as  I  have  much  desired  to  have  it  brought,  before  a  legal  and 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  177 

honorable  tribunal.  I  respectfully  ask  a  full  examination  of  the  facts 
involved.  I  have  called  the  charges  '  grossly  false.'  I  am  ready  to  be  held 
responsible  for  the  truth  of  tliis.  I  resi^ectfully  ask  that  he  may  be  re- 
quired thoroughly  to  prove  their  truth.  I  have  called  them  '  malicious.' 
They  have  had  no  conceivable  object  or  tendency  but  to  destroy  my  char- 
acter, and  to  hold  me  up  to  public  reprobation  and  reproach,— there  being 
no  single  point  or  end  which  they  even  profess  to  accomplish,  but  to  state 
what  he  declares  to  be  facts  in  reference  to  myself. 

For  the  first  time  in  near  thirty  years'  ministiy,  am  I  to  answer  for  the 
exercise  of  pastoral  discipline.  I  regret  to  trouble  your  honorable  board 
with  such  a  subject  in  connection  with  myself.  I  am  conscious  of  having 
endeavored  to  do  my  duty  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  to  Him  and  to  your 
Board  under  His  direction,  I  humbly  and  reverently  entrust  my  cause. 

After  a  lengthy  and  thorough  examination  into  the  matter,  the 
committee  on  July  5,  1849,  in  an  exhaustive  review  of  the  testimony 
in  the  case,  completely  vindicated  the  character  of  the  rector  and 
sustained  and  justified  his  action.  But  a  yet  ampler  vindication 
was  afforded  in  a  supplementary  report  made  to  the  Standing 
Committee  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Whitehouse,  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mission, in  which  through  correspondence  and  conversation  with 
Mr.  "Woolley  he  stated  that  he  had  learned  of  his  repentance  for 
what  he  had  done  and  his  desire  to  secure  restoration;  but  his  sud- 
den decease  on  August  20th  prevented  the  completion  of  his  ex- 
pressed desire. 

The  lamented  death  of  John  Stearns,  M.D.,  who  had  been  for 
thirteen  years  the  highly  respected  and  valued  senior  warden  of 
the  Church,  had  occurred  March  18th,  while  the  controversy  was 
pending  which  the  election  was  to  decide.  A  special  meeting  of 
the  vestry  was  called  on  the  day  of  his  decease  to  take  action  thereon, 
and  the  three  oldest  members  of  the  vestry  were  appointed  to  co- 
operate with  the  family  in  arranging  the  funeral  and  to  prepare  an 
appreciative  minute  to  be  entered  upon  the  records.  It  was  voted 
that  the  vestry  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning,  and  the  rector 
was  requested  to  deliver  an  address  at  the  funeral  service.  The 
vacant  place  on  the  building  committee  was  tilled  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  Jacob  Leroy,  and  at  a  later  date  Peter  G.  Arcularius  was 
added  thereto.     The  following  minute  was  adopted  by  the  vestry: 

It  having  pleased  a  wise  Providence  to  remove  by  death  John  Stearns, 
M.D.,  a  venerable  and  distinguished  ]5hysician  of  this  city,  and  for  many 
years  the  senior  warden  of  this  parish,  this  vestry  directs  the  following 
record  to  be  placed  on  their  minutes,  and  a  copy  thereof  to  be  sent  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased: 

Resolved,  That  in  the  purity  of  life,  elevation  of  character,  fidelity  in 
dutv,  and  fervent  charity  exhibited  during  a  long  professional  and  religious 
12 


178  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

life  by  our  late  associate  and  friend,  this  vestry  recognizes  the  power  and 
influence  of  that  religion  he  professed  and  loved. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  moui'ii  the  loss  of  a  zealous  and  devoted  associate 
who  for  many  years  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  all  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  concerns  of  this  parish,  and  that  the  Church  at  large  has  also 
lost  in  him  a  man  of  enlarged  benevolence  and  catholic  spirit,  yet  we  are 
comforted  with  the  hope  that  our  loss  is  his  great  gain,  and  trust  that  his 
bright  and  consistent  Christian  example  will  animate  us  to  do  with  all 
diligence  the  duties  entrusted  to  us,  that  we  may  be  enabled  with  like 
precious  faith  and  joyful  hope  to  look  forward  to  that  '  rest  that  remaineth 
for  the  people  of  God.' 

In  October,  1848,  the  new  church  was  sufficiently  completed  to 
justify  arrangements  for  the  near  transference  thereto  of  the  con- 
gregation which  had  been  worshiping  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Uni- 
versity. Services  had  been  regularly  conducted  therein,  as  well 
as  at  the  Beekman  Street  church,  by  the  rector  and  his  assistant, 
Rev.  William  Y.  Rooker.  The  last  vestry  meeting  in  the  old  vestry- 
room  in  Beekman  Street  was  held  October  14,  1848,  and  adjourned 
to  meet  one  week  thereafter  in  the  vestry  -  room  of  the  new  St. 
George's  Church.  This  action  marked  the  transition  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  parish  from  Beekman  Street  to  Stuj^esant  Square. 
By  unanimous  action,  the  vestry  resolved  November  9th  "  that  the 
church  erected  by  this  vestry  on  Stuyvesant  Square  be  the  parish 
church  of  this  Corporation,  and  that  it  be  styled  and  known  as  '  St. 
George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York  '  on  Stuyvesant  Square; 
that  the  meetings  of  the  vestry  of  this  parish  be  henceforth  held 
and  the  records  and  minutes  of  the  same  be  kept  in  this  church, 
and  that  suitable  provision  be  made  therefor ;  that  the  above  church 
be  opened  for  Divine  Service  on  Sunday,  November  19th  inst.,  and 
that  it  be  statedly  held  thereafter  at  such  times  as  this  Corporation 
may  appoint ;  that  it  is  the  sense  of  this  vestry  that  it  will  be  ex- 
pedient for  the  interests  of  this  parish  that  the  rector  devote  his 
personal  services  mostly  to  the  Parish  Church."  Henry  Greatorex 
was  appointed  organist  and  leader  of  the  music,  and  the  choir  was 
to  consist  of  Misses  Hitchcock  and  Dresler,  and  Messrs.  Lander  and 
Bell,  their  services  being  required  three  times  on  Sunday,  one 
evening  during  the  week,  and  on  the  usual  Holy  Days  of  the  Church, 
their  compensation  being  three  hundred  dollars  for  the  organist, 
two  hundred  dollars  for  the  bass,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
each  for  the  other  parts.  John  Mulvany  was  appointed  assistant 
sexton,  Thomas  Dugan,  the  sexton,  remaining  for  the  present  in  the 
old  church.  The  Committee  on  Pews  of  the  University  Chapel, 
Samuel  M.  Cornell  and  Henry  Anstice,  were  continued  as  the  pew 


.    THE     TYNG    PERIOD  179 

committee  of  the  new  church,  and  arrangements  for  selling  the 
pews  were  authorized  to  be  made  for  November  20th,  the  day  after 
the  opening  service.  The  unsold  pews  were  to  be  offered  for  rent, 
and  the  rector  was  authorized  in  connection  with  the  pew  committee 
"  to  rent  pews  at  such  reductions  from  the  established  rates  as 
should  be  deemed  expedient,"  in  order  that  no  one  might  feel 
debarred  from  the  possession  of  a  pew  through  inability  to  pay  even 
the  moderate  rents  indicated  on  the  pew  diagram.  There  were  two 
hundred  pews  on  the  ground  floor,  valued  at  $94,650,  and  ninety- 
three  in  the  gallery,  valued  at  $21,200.  The  prices  ranged  from 
$100  to  $700  each,  and  the  ground  rent  was  fixed  at  eight  per  cent, 
on  the  valuation.  The  rental  price  on  unsold  pews  was  seven  per 
cent,  additional — that  is,  fifteen  per  cent,  on  the  assessed  valuation. 
As  the  ground  rent  therefore  was  $8  per  year  on  the  least  desirable 
pews,  and  only  $56  on  the  most  expensive,  the  corresponding  rentals 
being  respectively  $15  and  $105  per  year,  no  one  could  complain 
that  the  cost  of  church  attendance  was  excessive. 

These  details  having  been  settled,  the  vestry  ordered  a  series  of 
resolutions  placed  upon  the  records,  in  which  they 

tender  their  thanks  to  Almighty  God  in  prospering  them  thus  far  toward 
the  completion  of  this  House  of  God,  to  be  devoted  to  His  worshijo  and 
service  and  the  preaching  of  Christ's  Gospel;  to  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Building  Committee,  who  have  given  their  time  and  watchful  attention 
to  the  carrying  out  of  the  plans;  to  the  treasurer  of  this  Corporation, 
William  Whitlock,  Jr.,  Esq.,  in  furnishing  them  with  the  pecuniary  means 
of  thus  far  completing  this  House  of  Prayer;  and  to  their  beloved  Pastor 
for  this  watchful  and  unremitted  attention  to  the  rise  and  progress  of  this 
sanctuary,  praying  as  they  most  devoutly  would,  that  his  life  and  health 
may  be  precious  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  that  he  may  long  live  to  go  in 
and  out  among  them  breaking  the  Bread  of  Life,  and  may  the  blessing  of 
God  the  Sa^'iour  be  upon  him,  never  leaving  him  to  his  own  wisdom  or 
strength,  but  ever  leading  him  to  rely  on  the  wisdom  and  strength  of 
Jehovah  Jesus,  the  Lord  Iiis  Righteousness,  and  when  his  work  is  finished 
in  the  sanctuai-y  below,  may  he  have  an  abundant  entrance  into  the  kingdom 
of  God  above. 

Services  were  inaugurated  in  the  new  church  on  the  19th  of  No- 
vember, but  it  was  with  a  chastened  rejoicing.  Although  what  had 
seemed  almost  impossible  had  been  achieved,  there  yet  remained  to 
be  reckoned  with  the  dissatisfaction  lingering  in  the  Beekman 
Street  congregation,  the  apparent  unfriendliness  of  the  Corpora- 
tion of  Trinity  Church,  and  the  consequent  difficulties  yet  to  be 
surmounted  in  turning  the  property  of  the  Corporation  into  cash, 
wherewith  to  liquidate  the  cost  of  the  erection  of  the  new  church. 
The  rector's  sermon  at  the  opening  service,  however,  made  no  refer- 


180  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

enee  to  the  situation,  but  was  upon  the  topic  *'  The  Duties  of  the 
Gospel  Ministry,"  from  the  text,  "  Who  is  sufficient  for  these 
things."  A  letter  written  a  few  days  later  to  his  son,  the  Rev. 
Dudley  A.  Tyng,  contained  this  allusion  to  his  state  of  mind :  ' '  We 
opened  our  Church  on  Sunday  with  an  immense  crowd.  How  it 
will  succeed  I  am  not  sure.  God  can  carry  us  through,  be  it 
His  sacred  will.  I  am  very  much  hurried  and  very  much  har- 
assed. ' ' 

At  this  time  the  expenditure  upon  the  new  church  had  amounted 
to  $192,510,  the  whole  of  which  had  been  advanced  by  William 
Whitlock,  Jr.,  a  warden  and  the  treasurer  of  the  Corporation.  It 
was  a  tremendous  responsibility  for  one  man  to  assume,  at  the  risk 
of  endangering  his  own  commercial  credit,  but  it  attested  in  a  signal 
way  his  fidelity  and  devotion  to  the  church  of  his  choice  and  his 
love,  and  of  which  he  was  for  so  many  years  an  ornament  and  sup- 
port. At  one  time  when  the  vestry  had  become  discouraged,  feeling 
that  nothing  but  Mr.  Whitlock 's  credit  stood  between  the  Corpora- 
tion and  disaster,  he  said  to  them:  "  Gentlemen,  do  you  think  that 
I  can  build  that  church?  I  pledge  you  my  word  I  will  build  it 
even  if  I  have  to  mortgage  my  house."  In  reviewing  the  history 
of  this  period  at  a  later  date,  the  rector  thus  bore  witness  to  the 
inestimable  value  of  his  service,  "  God  gave  to  one  faithful  friend 
of  the  Church  the  ability  and  the  will  to  meet  the  whole  responsi- 
bility, and  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  to  his  energy  and  noble 
conception  of  Christian  duty  this  Church  is  wholly  indebted  for  the 
edifice  in  which  we  now  worship." 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  first  clergyman  invited  by  the 
rector  to  preach  in  the  new  church  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Berrian, 
rector  of  Trinity  Church.  In  his  letter  of  invitation  Doctor  Tyng 
courteously  wrote :  "  It  has  always  been  my  purpose  and  desire  that 
you  should  be  the  first  clergyman  invited  to  preach  in  our  new 
church,  both  from  my  personal  regard  for  yourself  and  my  high 
respect  for  that  ancient  Mother  of  Churches,  over  which  you  pre- 
side, and  from  which  St.  George's  has  received  so  much."  Doctor 
Berrian  accepted  the  invitation,  and  preached  on  Sunday  evening, 
January  7th. 

The  new  church  was  thus  occupied  for  worship,  but  it  had  neither 
bell  nor  adequate  organ,  no  fence  surrounded  it,  the  spires  were  not 
yet  built,  the  parish  building  was  unfinished,  and  the  rectory  not 
yet  begun.  The  future  was  uncertain,  because  as  yet  no  settlement 
with  Trinity  Church  had  been  effected  as  to  the  restrictions  which 


ST.  George's  church,  stuyvesant  square 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  181 

that  Corporation  had  put  upon  the  lots  which  it  had  ceded  to  St. 
George's  at  the  time  it  was  made  independent;  and  until  these 
restrictions  were  removed,  advantageous  sales  of  its  property  were 
impracticable ;  and  it  was  upon  such  sales  that  St.  George's  depended 
to  meet  the  cost  of  the  past  and  prospective  improvements  upon 
its  property  in  Sixteenth  Street.  Some  statement  therefore  of  this 
whole  tedious,  trying  business  is  essential  to  the  completeness  of 
this  history. 

The  original  conveyances  of  the  chapel  property  in  Beekman 
Street,  and  of  the  lots  of  land,  which  were  part  of  the  church  farm 
and  deeded  to  St.  George's,  as  its  portion  upon  its  entrance  into 
independent  life,  contained  conditions,  which  it  was  now  found 
seriously  impaired  the  value  of  the  property,  as  no  title  could  be 
given  which  would  be  unquestionable  and  absolute.  To  secure  the 
consent  of  Trinity  Church  to  the  removal  of  these  conditions  was 
therefore  imperative  if  St.  George's  was  to  remain  a  solvent  cor- 
poration. For  without  the  release  of  the  conditions,  the  proceeds 
of  a  sale  of  the  whole  endowment  might  not  be  sufficient  to  pay 
the  existing  indebtedness ;  and  as  no  possible  advantage  could  accrue 
to  Trinity  Church  by  their  retention,  it  seemed  only  reasonable  and 
just  that  the  consent  of  Trinity  should  be  freely  given.  But  con- 
sent was  refused,  and  for  nearly  a  year  of  anxious  suspense  as  to 
the  outcome  of  the  complicated  situation,  the  vestry  of  St.  George's 
struggled  on  under  the  increasing  load  of  debt  and  interest  obliga- 
tions, until  conferences  were  renewed,  and  the  terms  demanded  by 
Trinity,  as  the  price  of  releasing  the  conditions,  were  made  some- 
what less  onerous,  and  a  compromise  agreement  finally  effected 
November  30,  1850. 

The  initial  action  in  the  matter  was  taken  in  vestry  meeting, 
December  15,  1848,  by  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  make 
application  to  Trinity  Church  for  a  legal  release  of  the  property 
from  the  conditions  contained  in  the  deeds.  This  application  in  its 
perfected  form,  together  with  a  memorial  drawn  up  by  the  same 
committee,  which  was  authorized  to  act  as  a  committee  of  confer- 
ence, and  a  memorial  numerously  signed  by  "  pew-owners,  com- 
municants, and  corporators  in  St.  George's  Church,"  requesting  the 
Corporation  of  Trinity  to  grant  the  petition  of  the  vestry  of  St. 
George's,  were  duly  presented  to  the  vestry  of  Trinity  in  January, 
1849.  The  memorial  of  the  vestry  represented  that  the  church  in 
Beekman  Street  had  become  for  years  past  less  and  less  desirable 
as  a  place  for  public  worship  owing  to  the  rapid  displacement  of 
dwelling-houses  by  warehouses,  shops,  and  manufactories;  that  it 


182  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

was  the  duty  of  the  vestry  to  provide  suitable  church  accommoda- 
tions for  its  members  who  had  moved  to  the  upper  part  of  the  city; 
that  they  had  commenced  the  erection  of  a  large,  substantial,  and 
elegant  church  edifice  on  Sixteenth  Street,  to  accommodate  the 
rapidly  increasing  population  in  that  portion  of  the  city;  and  the 
release  of  the  restrictions  on  the  property  of  the  Corporation  re- 
ceived from  Trinity  was  respectfully  requested :  ' '  That  whenever 
the  time  may  come  and  it  shall  be  found  expedient  to  do  so,  they 
may  have  the  power  to  alienate  their  property  by  mortgage  or 
sale  and  apply  the  proceeds  in  discharge  of  the  debt  incurred  in  the 
erection  of  their  new  parish  church  ";  and  they  proposed  that  the 
church  edifice  on  Sixteenth  Street  be  subjected  to  the  same  condi- 
tions and  restrictions  which  they  asked  to  have  removed  from  that 
in  Beekman  Street,  to  secure  the  use  of  the  same  "  for  the  purpose 
of  Divine  Service  according  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,"  The  first  conference  between  the 
committees  of  the  two  vestries  was  held  February  19,  1849,  and 
was  fruitless  of  results,  as  the  vestry  of  Trinity  refused  to  grant 
the  request  of  St.  George's  and  remove  the  restrictions  upon  the 
property. 

Meanwhile  a  serious  complication  arose,  through  the  determined 
and  persistent  efforts  of  a  portion  of  the  congregation  of  old  St. 
George's  to  force  the  vestry  to  abandon  the  policy  they  had  de- 
liberately adopted,  and  which  had  been  approved  by  the  corporators 
in  the  vestry  election  of  the  preceding  year.  This  policy  was,  that 
the  new  edifice  on  Stuyvesant  Square  should  be  the  parish  church 
of  St.  George's;  that  the  old  church  in  Beekman  Street  should  be 
maintained  as  a  chapel  whose  seats  should  be  made  free ;  and  that 
the  said  St.  George's  Chapel  should  not  be  sold  or  alienated  "  but 
for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  or  building  another  chapel  in  some 
more  convenient  location  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city  of  New  York. ' ' 
The  opponents  of  this  policy  held  a  meeting  January  17,  1849,  and 
appointed  a  committee  of  nine,  of  which  James  H.  Titus,  the  prime 
mover  in  this  opposition,  was  chairman,  to  present  a  memorial  to 
the  vestry  expressive  of  their  views  and  wishes,  to  be  signed  by 
those  present  and  others  whose  signatures  might  be  obtained  thereto. 
On  the  following  day  the  vestry  granted  the  request  of  the  Memo- 
rialists to  appoint  a  coramittte  to  confer  with  them,  and  a  series  of 
conferences  were  had  without  any  definite  result.  The  Memorialists 
recited  the  strong  attachment  of  the  signers  to  the  old  church,  and 
their  earnest  desire  to  preserve  the  same  as  "  St.  George's  Church 
in  the  City  of  New  York  ' ' ;  deprecated  the  hypothecating  of  the 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  183 

credit  and  property  of  the  Corporation  in  the  erection  of  the  new 
church  on  Stuyvesant  Square;  protested  against  the  conversion  of 
the  Beekman  Street  church  into  a  chapel  of  the  new  St.  George's; 
and  proposing  that  such  measures  should  be  taken  as  would  "  es- 
tablish the  new  edifice  and  congregation  on  Stuyvesant  Square  as 
a  new  and  independent  church,  with  an  endowment  of  such  separate 
portion  of  the  corporate  property  of  St.  George's  Church  as  may 
seem  prudent  and  equitable."  At  the  second  conference  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Memorialists  presented  a  specific  proposition,  to  the 
effect  that  the  church  and  congregation  in  Beekman  Street  retain 
the  original  corporate  title  and  rights,  all  the  property  in  Beekman 
and  Cliff  streets,  one-half  of  the  thirty  lots  in  the  first  and  third 
wards,  and  pay  the  old  debt  estimated  not  to  exceed  thirty  thousand 
dollars;  that  the  church  and  congregation  on  Stuyvesant  Square 
be  established  as  a  new  and  independent  corporation,  and  receive 
a  conveyance  from  the  Corporation  of  St.  George's  Church  of  the 
real  estate  on  Stuyvesant  Square  and  one-half  of  the  thirty  lots 
belonging  to  the  Corporation,  the  new  corporation  to  assume  the 
payment  of  all  the  existing  debts  of  the  old  corporation,  except  the 
thirty  thousand  dollars  above  referred  to.  This  proposition  being 
declined,  a  modification  of  it  was  proposed  at  the  third  and  last 
meeting  of  the  two  committees,  which  proved  equally  unacceptable 
to  the  committee  of  the  vestry.  Thereupon  the  committee  of  the 
Memorialists  drew  up  an  address  to  the  vestry,  being  a  statement 
in  detail  of  what  had  taken  place,  and  embodying  a  financial  plan 
less  liable  to  some  objections  urged  against  the  former  proposition, 
but  still  adhering  to  the  point  that  the  old  church  and  congrega- 
tion should  be  still  "  St.  George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York." 
This  point,  however,  could  not  be  conceded,  as  it  would  have  in- 
volved reversal  of  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  rector  and  vestry 
as  to  the  wisest  and  best  policy  to  be  pursued,  the  confirmation  or 
rejection  of  which  policy  had  been  definitely  made  the  issue  upon 
which  the  election  of  a  year  before  had  turned.  Disappointed  at 
not  being  able  to  swerve  the  vestry  from  their  course,  the  Com- 
mittee of  Remonstrants  addressed  to  the  Corporation  of  Trinity 
Church  under  date  March  27,  1849,  a  lengthy  recital  of  "  the  cir- 
cumstances connected  with  the  dissensions  existing  in  the  parish 
of  St.  George 's  " ;  regretting  "  to  be  obliged  to  appear  before  you  in 
the  character  of  dissentients  and  of  opponents  to  the  legal  authority 
of  our  Church  ' ' ;  and  urgently  requesting  the  Corporation  of  Trinity 
Church  "  to  withhold  the  release  now  sought  by  the  vestry  of  St. 
George's  Church,  until  such  release  can  be  made  to  subserve  the 


184  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

preservation  of  '  St.  George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York  '  in 
its  primitive  edifice  and  station." 

The  annual  election  occurred  April  10,  1849,  and  although  it  was 
held  in  the  old  church  in  Beekman  Street,  the  dissentients  refrained 
from  taking  part  therein,  and  eighty-nine  votes  were  cast,  all  being 
for  the  members  of  the  old  vestry.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  re- 
elected vestry,  four  days  later,  action  was  taken  on  the  memorial 
of  Mr.  Titus  and  his  colleagues,  to  the  effect  "  that  the  circum- 
stances of  this  Corporation  do  not  justify  it  in  granting  the  re- 
quest of  the  Memorialists,"  but  proposing  that  they  should  organize 
as  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  according  to  law,  assume  half  of 
the  debts  of  the  Corporation,  and  receive  a  conveyance  of  the  entire 
Beekman  Street  property  and  one-half  of  the  thirty  lots  of  ground 
belonging  to  the  Corporation.  This  generous  proposition  was  de- 
clined by  the  dissentients,  and  a  counter  proposition  made  which, 
while  varying  the  terms  of  financial  adjustment,  pertinaciously  ad- 
hered to  the  unconcedable  point,  that  the  old  name  and  Corpora- 
tion should  remain  in  Beekman  Street.  The  vestry  expressed  their 
disappointment  April  23d  that  their  "  liberal  offer  of  fully  one- 
half  of  the  property  (in  value)  of  this  Corporation  has  not  been 
accepted  by  the  committee  ' ' ;  and  the  negotiations  ended.  The 
committee,  however,  embodied  a  statement  of  these  later  proceedings 
in  another  communication  to  Trinity  Church,  in  which  they  re- 
quested "  that  they  should  have  an  opportunity  to  appear  before 
you  in  reply  to  any  future  communications  which  may  be  received 
from  the  vestry  of  St.  George's,  before  your  final  determination 
relative  to  the  application  of  that  body  now  pending  before  you." 

Meanwhile  the  vestry  were  meeting  their  obligations,  as  best 
they  might,  by  temporary  loans  pending  the  completion  of  the 
negotiations  with  Trinity  Church,  in  the  matter  of  securing  the 
releases  necessary  before  the  lots  received  from  that  Corporation 
could  be  sold  to  advantage.  In  regard  to  this  enforced  delay.  Dr. 
Tyng  in  a  retrospective  sermon  said : 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  features  of  the  history  was  the 
Providence  by  which  internal  dissensions  in  the  congregation  and  outward 
hostility  from  others,  in  whose  hands  there  was  power  to  annoy,  were  made 
to  arrest  the  premature  sale  of  the  property  of  the  Corporation,  and  to  tie 
it  up  until  such  a  change  in  its  value  had  taken  place  as  should  fully  relieve 
our  obligations.  The  opposition  was  meant  for  evil;  God  was  pleased  to 
overrule  it  for  remarkable  good. 

The  new  Sunday-school  building  and  lecture-room  on  Sixteenth 
Street  was  completed  and  ready  for  occupancy  in  October,  1849, 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  185 

and  the  Sunday-school,  which  had  been  using  temporary  quarters, 
was  soon  installed  therein.  The  Rev.  James  H.  Tyng,  a  brother  of 
the  rector,  secured  the  use  on  week-days  of  the  largest  room  on  the 
ground  floor  for  a  select  classical  school,  in  which  the  writer  of 
this  history,  the  rector's  sons,  and  other  young  members  of  the 
congregation  were  duly  and  well  taught. 

The  monument  and  bust  of  the  former  rector,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Milnor,  was  directed  by  the  vestry  November  15th  to  be  removed 
from  the  church  in  Beekman  Street  to  the  chancel  of  the  new  church 
in  Stuyvesant  Square. 

It  being  desirable  to  secure  the  consecration  of  the  new  church, 
and  the  Episcopate  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York  being  still  vacant 
through  the  suspension  of  Bishop  Onderdonk,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Carlton 
Chase,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  New  Hampshire,  who  at  the  request  of  the 
Standing  Committee  was  performing  Episcopal  services  in  the 
Diocese  of  New  York,  was  invited  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  con- 
secration. On  the  4th  of  December,  1849,  the  new  edifice  was  ac- 
cordingly consecrated  by  Bishop  Chase  in  the  presence  of  about  fifty 
of  the  neighboring  clergy  and  an  immense  congregation.  Morning 
Prayer  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Gregory  T.  Bedell,  D.D.,  Rector  of 
the  Church  of  the  Ascension;  the  Lessons  by  the  Rev.  Benjamin  I. 
Haight,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Pastoral  Theology  in  the  General  Theo- 
logical Seminary;  the  deed  of  donation  by  the  Rev.  Lewis  P.  W. 
Balch,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Church;  the  Sentence  of 
Consecration  by  the  Rev.  Jonathan  M.  Wainwright,  D.D.,  Assistant 
Minister  of  Trinity  Church;  the  Epistle  by  the  Rev.  William  Ber- 
rian,  D.D.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  and  the  Gospel  by  the  Rev. 
Francis  L.  Hawks,  D.D.,  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Mediator.  The 
sermon  was  preached  by  the  rector  of  St.  George's  Church  from  the 
Song  of  Solomon,  sixth  chapter  and  ninth  verse,  ' '  My  dove,  my  unde- 
filed  is  but  one."  After  the  religious  services  were  concluded  the 
Bishop,  clergy,  and  other  invited  guests  partook  together  of  a  col- 
lation provided  in  the  school-room  in  the  chapel  by  the  vestry.  The 
whole  arrangements  for  the  day  had  proved  ' '  satisfactory  and  agree- 
able to  all  who  were  engaged  in  them."  Among  the  guests  in  at- 
tendance at  the  consecration  were  the  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
who  took  part  in  the  service,  and  its  wardens  and  vestrymen,  who 
had  been  specially  invited  to  honor  the  occasion  with  their  presence. 

More  than  a  year  had  now  elapsed  since  the  application  had  been 
made  to  Trinity  Church  for  the  release  of  the  conditions  on  the 
property  of  St.  George's,  and  nothing  had  been  heard  from  that 


186  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Corporation  since  their  refusal  of  the  application  early  in  1849. 
The  matter,  however,  had  not  lapsed  from  consideration,  for  the 
Standing  Committee  of  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  presented  on 
February  2,  1850,  an  elaborate  report  to  the  vestry  "  upon  the 
several  applications  of  St.  George's  Church  for  releases  of  the 
conditions  in  the  conveyances  to  that  Corporation,  so  that  it  may 
dispose  of  its  property  to  the  greatest  advantage  for  the  purpose  of 
paying  its  debt."  This  report,  after  reciting  the  early  history  of 
St.  George's  and  its  present  financial  condition  and  various  con- 
siderations presented  by  the  committee  of  St.  George's  in  con- 
ference, goes  on  to  say : 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  appears  to  your  committee,  that  a  sale  of  the 
greater  part  at  least  of  the  real  estate  of  St.  George's  Church  is  inevitable. 
The  only  question  is  whether  this  church  will  concur  in  a  sale  of  a  portion 
of  it,  and  thus  retain  the  remahader  as  an  endowment  producing  an  annual 
income,  and  likewise  secure  the  new  edifice  and  land  in  like  manner  to  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church;  or,  by  refusing  to  concur,  suffer  the  whole 
estate  to  be  sold  at  reduced  prices.  ...  It  is  evident  that  a  great  risk 
must  be  run  in  going  to  a  sale  of  the  property  of  St.  George's  Church  with- 
out a  release  of  the  conditions;  the  result  might  involve  a  sale  of  the  whole 
without  accomplishing  the  object  intended;  and  the  only  purpose  this  Vestry 
could  have  in  retaining  the  condition,  viz :  that  of  securing  a  permanent 
endowment,  would  be  entirely  defeated;  for  so  long  as  St.  George's  main- 
tains a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  city,  this  Corporation  cannot 
re-enter  upon  the  property  or  exercise  the  least  control  over  it.  .  .  .  Your 
committee  consider  the  difference  between  the  proceeds  of  the  property 
upon  a  forced  sale  of  it,  without  the  acquiescence  of  this  Corporation, 
and  the  actual  value  to  be  obtained  by  gi'V'ing  a  clear  or  perfectly  unem- 
barrassed title,  as  a  direct  loss  of  church  property. 

This  reasoning  of  the  committee  would  seem  conclusive  in  favor 
of  granting  the  petition  of  St.  George's  Church,  and  they  recom- 
mended a  plan  which  involved  a  partial  compliance  with  the  request. 
The  vestry  of  Trinity,  however,  at  its  meeting,  February  11,  1850, 
simply  resolved  that  the  church  edifice  in  Beekman  Street  ought, 
if  possible,  to  be  preserved  for  public  worship  in  that  part  of  the 
city,  and  referred  back  to  its  Standing  Committee  the  resolutions 
reported  by  them,  with  instructions  to  confer  with  the  vestry  of 
St.  George's  or  its  committee,  in  order  to  ascertain  if  an  arrange- 
ment can  be  made  by  which  in  consideration  of  the  release  of  all 
conditions  the  vestry  of  St.  George 's  will  convey  the  Beekman  Street 
church  "  to  such  religious  corporation  now  existing  or  hereafter 
to  be  created,  as  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  may  direct,  and 
upon  such  conditions  and  covenants  as  the  said  Corporation  may 
prescribe."     The  St.  George's  committee,  refusing  to  consider  this 


THE     TYXG    PERIOD  187 

proposition  to  give  away  property  valued  at  sixty  tliousand  dollars 
for  the  releases,  which  ought  equitably  to  have  been  freely  accorded, 
the  vestry  of  Trinity  presented  a  new  proposition.  In  inclosing  a 
copy  of  this  action  to  Mr.  Winston  of  the  St.  George's  committee, 
Mr.  Harison,  the  comptroller  of  Trinity  and  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee whose  resolutions  had  been  referred  back  to  it,  wrote  under 
date  February  19,  1850:  "  You  will  perceive  the  vestry  showed 
their  disappointment  by  taking  all  manner  of  liberties  with  our 
original  proposition.  They  released  the  whole  property  upon  re- 
ceiving a  round  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars."  The  Rev. 
Doctor  Tyng  in  referring  to  this  proposition  wrote : 

This  munificent  Corporation,  knowing  all  the  ijeeuuiaiy  difficulties  and  ob- 
ligations with  which  St.  George's  was  actually  contending,  demanded  from 
that  struggling  Corporation  a  payment  in  money  of  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars,  for  the  simple  consent  to  the  removal  of  a  restriction  from  their 
property,  which  the  merest  justice  required  and  which  cost  them  nothing. 
And  even  this  offer  was  to  be  connected  with  a  transfer  of  the  same  re- 
strictions to  all  the  new  property  which  St.  George's  had  acquired  on 
Stuy\-esant  Square  and  the  church  edifice  which  they  had  built  thereon. 

The  counter  proposition  of  St.  George's  Vestry,  March  21,  1850, 
contained  three  alternatives : 

1.  That  this  Corporation  will  pay  to  Trinity  Church  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  for  the  removal  of  all  restrictions  on  their  propertj'  received  from 
that  Corporation;  or 

2.  That  this  vestry  will  place  the  same  restrictions,  on  their  property 
obtained  from  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant  on  Sixteenth  Street,  as  now  exist  on  the 
church  in  Beekman  Street,  provided  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church 
will  remove  all  restrictions  from  the  propertj'  received  by  them;  or 

3.  That  this  Corporation  will  sell  to  Trinity  Church,  or  to  any  corpora- 
tion it  may  direct  and  whose  obUgations  for  payment  it  will  guarantee,  the 
church  and  ground  on  the  corner  of  Beekman  and  Cliff  sti-eets,  originally 
obtained  from  Trinity  Church,  for  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars, 
provided  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  will  release  the  property  now 
possessed  by  St.  George's  Church  and  received  from  Trinity  Church,  from 
all  restrictions  placed  on  it  in  their  deeds  of  gift. 

The  vestry  further  resolved  "  that  it  would  be  inexpedient  and 
wrong  for  this  Corporation  to  embarrass  themselves  by  compljdng 
with  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church,  re- 
quiring a  payment  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  and  a  transfer 
of  the  restrictions  to  the  church  in  Stuyvesant  Square,  while  the 
debts  of  the  Corporation  to  any  considerable  amount  remain  un- 
paid." 

These  propositions  of  St.  George's  the  vestry  of  Trinity  promptly 
tabled  April  8,  1850.     On  the  2d  of  May,  the  committee  of  con- 


188  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

ference  was  instructed  by  St.  George's  Yestry  to  present  a  memorial 
to  Trinity  Church,  requesting  their  definite  action  upon  the  third 
alternative  proposition.  A  memorial  was  accordingly  drawn  up  as 
follows,  under  date  May  8,  1850 : 

The  undersigned  respectfully  represent,  that  they  have  learned  with  great 
disappointment  and  regret  that  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church,  at  its  late 
meeting  laid  the  resolutions  of  our  vestry  upon  the  table  without  any 
decision  or  action  thereon.  They  desire  with  perfect  respect  to  remind 
your  venerable  body  that  the  requests  contained  in  said  communications  and 
resolutions,  involving  matters  so  vital  to  the  interests  of  our  Corporation, 
have  been  before  you  for  action  for  nearly  one  year  and  a  half,  during 
Avhich  time  we  have  been  put  to  much  additional  cost  and  embarrassment, 
from  the  accumulation  of  a  large  amount  of  interest  on  our  imliquidated 
debt,  while  anxiously  waiting  from  month  to  month  your  favorable  action, 
which  from  various  precedents,  as  well  as  from  the  entire  reasonableness 
of  our  requests,  we  have  good  grounds  for  confidently  anticii^ating. 

This  vestry  are  constrained  by  their  necessities  to  declare  that  they  can- 
not longer  postpone  definite  action  in  reference  to  the  sale  of  their  property 
consistently  with  their  obligations  to  this  Corporation  and  its  creditors,  and 
that  they  must  proceed,  without  further  delay,  to  a  final  disposition  of 
their  real  estate,  to  pay  their  debt,  whether  the  restrictions  are  removed 
by  your  action  or  not. 

'Having  earnestly  and  patiently  sought  by  all  proper  means  to  obtain 
from  your  Corporation  the  removal  of  these  restrictions,  valueless  to  you, 
but  highly  oppressive  and  embarrassing  to  us,  we  trust  and  believe  that 
you  will  not  subject  us  to  the  pain  and  mortification  of  witnessing  the  need- 
less sacrifice  of  a  portion  of  that  property  which  was  given  '  for  pious 
uses,'  which  must  be  forever  lost  to  the  Church  and  enrich  those  who  have 
no  sympathy  with  its  communion  and  worship,  by  declining  our  proposi- 
tion }  but  that  you  will,  by  prompt  and  favorable  action  in  our  behalf  place 
us  in  such  circumstances  as  you  would  desire,  were  our  position  your  own. 

The  vestry  of  Trinity,  on  the  10th  of  June,  finally  adopted 
propositions,  which  were  acceded  to  June  27th  by  the  vestry  of 
St.  George's,  and  final  "  articles  of  agreement"  were  dated  and 
executed  November  30,  1850.  On  December  19th  the  committee 
accordingly  reported  that  the  negotiations  were  concluded,  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  vestry  a  synopsis  of  the  articles  of  agreement,  together 
with  the  documents  in  full  pertaining  to  the  settlement,  which  are 
entered  at  length  in  the  records  of  St.  George's  vestry.  The  chief 
features  of  the  agreement  were : 

1.  To  insure  that  the  new  church  and  grounds  on  Stuyvesant  Square 
should  forever  continue  as  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  St.  George's 
agi-ees  to  execute  a  mortgage  to  Trinity  Church,  conditioned  upon  the 
fulfillment  of  the  covenant  that  it  should  be  used  in  no  other  manner  or  way 
than  for  the  services  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  liquidating 
the  damages  upon  a  breach  of  this  condition  at  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

2.  Trinity  Church  agrees  to  buy  the  church  on  the  comer  of  Beekman 
and  Chff  streets,  subject  to  the  rights  of  vault  and  pew  owners,  and  to 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  189 

issue  her  bond  for  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  therefor,  and  to  forever 
keep  it  as  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  not  to  use  it  in  any  other 
manner  or  way  without  the  written  consent  of  St.  George's.  On  its  part, 
St.  George's  agrees  to  execute  and  deliver  a  good  and  sufficient  conveyance 
of  the  old  cluu'ch  to  such  person  or  corporation  as  Trinity  Church  may 
desigiaate,  whenever  requested  to  do  so,  subject  to  the  original  conditions 
in  the  deed  of  gift  to  St.  George's. 

3.  Trinity  Church  agrees  and  contracts  to  release  all  the  other  property 
formerly  conveyed  to  St.  George's,  from  all  conditions  whatsoever,  and  to 
execute  and  deliver  to  St.  George's  Corporation,  or  to  whomsoever  it  may 
designate,  deeds  of  release,  whenever  and  in  so  many  and  such  separate 
deeds  as  the  CoriDorafion  of  St.  George's  may  require. 

In  respect  to  this  happy  termination  of  the  long,  tedious,  and  com- 
plicated negotiations,  the  committee  expressed  their  gratitude  at  be- 
ing able  to  say  that  they  had  ' '  yielded  no  principle  of  independence 
or  rights,  and  that  the  settlement  of  the  question  at  issue  has  been 
made  upon  a  basis  of  mutual  acknowledged  prerogative  and  obliga- 
tion." The  situation  in  which  St.  George's  now  found  itself  is 
such  a  turning-point  in  its  history,  and  the  record  of  sales  of  prop- 
erty, with  purchasers  and  prices,  is  of  such  interest  as  to  justify  the 
insertion  here  of  the  concluding  portion  of  the  committee's  report: 

During  these  negotiations  with  Trinity  Church,  your  committee  have  felt 
the  anxiety,  so  often  expressed  by  the  vestry,  to  sell  the  propertj^  of  this 
Corporation  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  its  large  debt ;  but  they  judged 
it  would  be  better  to  wait,  at  some  inconvenience  until  the  obstacles  existing 
in  the  restrictions  in  the  deeds  from  Trinity  Church  should  be  removed. 
The  committee  lost  no  time  in  bringing  this  property  into  the  market  after 
the  restrictions  were  removed,  and  they  report  the  following  sales,  for 
which  they  hold  agreements  from  the  parties  purchasing.  The  deeds  are 
mostly  deliverable  January  15,  1851,  and  the  parties  are  to  pay  cash,  of 
one-third  cash  and  two-thirds  on  bond  and  mortgage  for  two  years  at  six 
per  cent,  interest  or  for  five  years  at  seven  per  cent,  uiterest  payable  semi- 
annually. 

Thev  have  sold  to: 
D.  D.  Howard,  76  Chambers  Street  (lease  expires  1852)  for....   $16,000.00 

John  J.  Phelps,  80  Chambers  Street  (lease  expires  1854)  for 14,000.00 

Jolm  J.  Phelps,  82  Chambers  Street  (lease  expii'es  1853)  for 13,000.00 

Isaac  Moses,  91  Chambers  Street  (lease  expires  1850)  for 12,000.00 

D.  D.  Howard,  96  Chambers  Street  (lease  expires  1852)  for. . . .  11,000.00 
L.  H.  Holmes,  118  Chambers  Street  (lease  expires  1854)  for. . . .  11,500.00 
H.  D.  Aldrich,  102  Chambers  Street  (lease  expu-es  1852)  for. . . .     13,000.00 

H.  D.  Aldrich,  19  Murray  Street  (lease  expires  1854)  for 12,500.00 

H.  D.  Aldrich,  21  I^IuiTay  Street  (lease  expires  1853)  for 12,500.00 

Dan'l  Stanton,  40  Warren  Street   (retaining  the  restriction  on 

this  lot,  lease  expires  1853)  for 10,000.00 

Andi-ew   Thompson,   Esq.,    for   others,   78   Reade    Street    (lease 

expires  1855),  80  Reade  Street  (lease  expires  1855),  99  Claurch 

Street  (lease  expires  1855)  for." 15,400.00 


190  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Brought  forward    $140,900.00 

Phelps,  Dodge,  &  Co.,  lectui-e-room  in  Cliff  Street,  the  Meinell 

lot,  and  rear  of  parsonaee  lot  for 17,000.00 

Tatham  Brothers,  82  and  84  Beekman  Street  for 28,000.00 

Trinity  Church:  the  church  in  Beekman  Street  to  be  kejat  up  by 

them  as  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  perpetually,  for 25,000.00 

Total  of  contracts  for  sale,  leaving  eight  lots  of  gToimd  unsold.  .$210,900.00 


The  indebtedness  of  this  Corporation  as  this  day  given  in  by  the 
treasurer   is $183,163.22 

Prom  this  deduct  due  Milnor  Professorship  $7,000  and  $4,500  to 
the  Sundav-school  fund,  which  as  trust  funds  cannot  be  jiaid 
by    us " 11,500.00 


Leaves  our  debt  to  be  cancelled $171,663.22 

Should  the  contracts  for  lots  all  be  complied  with  and  the  amounts 
realized,  we  should  have  a  balance  of  $39,236.78  in  bonds  and  mortgages 
or  money,  with  the  eight  lots  of  gi'ound  unsold  as  productive  property, 
aside  from  our  chm-ch,  chapel  and  grounds  on  Stuyvesant  Square.  For 
the  lots  on  Beade,  Chambers,  Warren,  and  Murray  streets  just  sold  we 
have  obtained  an  advance  of  seventy-five  per  cent,  above  the  valuation  of 
1846  at  which  price  we  were  authorized  to  dispose  of  them,. 

We  have  thus  the  gi-atification  to  announce  to  the  vestry  the  completion 
of  these  arrangements  so  vitally  im])ortant  to  the  interest  and  prosperity 
of  this  parish,  removing  as  they  do  every  obstacle  of  an  outward  character 
to  its  advancement  and  increase.  We  secure  to  the  inhabitants  of  old 
Montgomerie  Ward  and  to  those  of  our  friends  who  feel  so  deej)  interest 
in  sustaining  the  old  church  in  Beekman  Street  with  its  vaults  for  the  dead, 
its  perpetuity  by  the  bond  of  Trinity  Church  to  us,  while  those  of  us  who 
love  the  church  on  Stujn'esant  Square  for  its  unrivaled  appropriateness  and 
beauty,  from  its  associations  as  well  as  what  it  has  cost  us  in  sacrifice, 
labor,  and  treasure,  will  rejoice  to  know  that  its  perpetuity  in  our  own 
Communion  is  secured  by  our  bond  to  Trinity  Chxirch  and  that  thus  it 
must  ever  remain  in  its  present  connection  and  position.  We  gladly  ac- 
knowledge that  '  hitherto  the  Lord  hath  hel2:)ed  us '  and  by  His  wisdom 
and  strength  alone  we  have  been  prospered. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

Fred'k  S.  Winston 


e      1     XT  Committee. 

Sam  l  Hopkins 


New  York,  December  19,  1850. 


Upon  the  receipt  of  this  report  the  vestry  resolved: 
That  in  the  sucessful  consummation  of  the  arrangements  between  this 
Corporation  and  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church,  and  in  the  very  ad- 
vantageous sales  of  the  various  portions  of  the  property  of  this  Corporation 
sufficient  for  the  liquidation  of  the  whole  debt  of  this  Corporation,  which 
have  been  above  re]iorted  to  this  vestry  by  the  committee  on  property  and 
repairs,  this  vestry  perceive  and  desire  to  acknowledge  the  very  special 
and  gracious  protection  and  blessing  of  Divine  Providence  over  the  interests 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  191 

of  this  Corporation,  demanding  the  expression  of  affectionate  gratitude 
to  Him  in  Whose  hands  has  been  the  control  of  the  minds  and  hearts,  of  all 
who  have  been  engaged  in  these  comjilicated  and  long  protracted  negotia- 
tions. 

That  this  vestry  entertain  a  very  high  sense  of  the  zeal,  patience,  fidelity, 
and  intelligence,  which  have  distinguished  the  course  and  labours  of  their 
committee  on  pi'operty  and  repairs  in  the  very  protracted  and  comijlicated 
negotiations,  both  with  the  representatives  of  the  Corporation  of  Trinity 
Church  and  Avith  the  many  other  parties  who  have  been  also  involved  in 
these  negotiations — and  which  have  resulted  so  prosperously  for  this  Cor- 
poration, and  desire  to  express  to  the  members  of  the  said  committee  their 
affectionate  and  respectful  gratitude,  for  their  performance  with  so  much 
labor,  of  the  arduous  duties,  which  they  have  so  successfully  discharged. 

In  view  of  the  present  independence  and  prosperous  condition  of 
St.  George's,  and  of  its  duties  to  the  coming  as  well  as  the  present 
generation,  the  vestry  appointed  Messrs.  Winston,  Whitlock,  Hop- 
kins, and  Lawrence  a  special  committee  to  take  into  consideration  the 
temporalities  of  the  Corporation,  and  "  report  such  a  plan  as  in 
their  judgment  should  govern  this  vestry  in  the  management  of  these 
trusts  confided  to  them."  The  vestry  also  gratefully  recognized 
the  very  important  and  valuable  services  rendered  during  the  last 
five  years  by  William  Whitlock,  Jr.,  as  treasurer  and  as  a  member 
of  the  Building  Committee,  and  Frederick  S.  Winston  as  a  member 
of  the  Building  Committee  and  of  the  committee  on  property, 
"  services  which  have  been  gratuitously  and  cheerfully  given  at  a 
great  sacrifice  both  of  pecuniary  interest  and  personal  convenience, ' ' 
by  assigning  to  each  of  them  as  their  property  a  pew  free  from  all 
taxation  or  ground  rent. 

The  special  committee  on  the  temporalities  of  the  church  reported 
March  13,  1851,  that : 

The  value  of  the  real  estate  belonging  to  this  Corporation  in  the  Third 
Ward,  together  with  the  Bonds  and  Mortgages  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the 
Treasurer  after  cancelling  all  our  indebtedness,  will  be  about  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Your  committee  recommend  in  view  of  the  source  and 
purpose  of  the  endowments  as  originally  made  to  this  Corporation,  and 
of  the  circumstances  of  necessity  which  may  arise  hereafter  in  so  large  and 
expensive  a  church  establishment  as  ours,  that  no  portion  of  the  principal 
of  our  present  property  be  expended,  or  used,  for  pur2Doses  of  building, 
improvements,  or  cuiTent  expenses. 

They  also  earnestly  recommend  to  the  present  vestry  and  to  their  suc- 
cessors in  office,  not  to  use  or  pledge  any  greater  portion  of  the  surplus 
revenue  of  the  church  than  will  accrue  in  five  years  from  the  time  any 
appropriation  shall  be  made. 

Should  the  finances  of  this  Corporation  be  wisely  administered,  the  net 
income  from  property,  and  the  rents  from  the  Pews  will  probabh'  exceed 


192  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

our  necessary  expenditures,  four  thousand  to  six  thousand  dollars  per 
annum,  to  which  may  be  added  a  considerable  sum  from  the  sale  of  pews 
ever\'  year,  from  the  large  number  still  unsold.  This  will  be  ample  in  a 
few  years  to  pay  for  a  rectory,  complete  the  spires,  purchase  an  organ,  and 
afterwards  to  build  and  sustain  a  chapel  among  the  poor,  in  a  destitute  part 
of  the  city. 

As  this  Corporation  owns  a  suitable  lot  on  Sixteenth  Street  adjoining 
the  church  and  chapel  for  a  rectory  and  as  they  have  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  stone  already  purchased  for  the  building  required,  the  committee  recom- 
mend, that  a  plain,  substantial,  and  comfortable  building,  comporting  with 
the  character  and  calling  of  those  for  whom  it  is  intended  in  coming  gen- 
erations, be  erected  as  soon  as  i^roper  preparations  can  be  made  for  this 
purpose. 

The  committee  are  not  prepared  to  recommend  the  immediate  erection 
of  the  spires,  provided  the  vestry  resolve  to  build  a  rectory  during  the  pres- 
ent year.  In  concluding,  your  committee  recommend  the  passage  of  the 
following  resolutions, 

Resolved,  That  the  vestry  adopt  the  foregoing  report  and  that  the  prin- 
ciples and  recommendations  contained  therein  be  carried  out  by  this  vestry 
and  be  recommended  to  their  sucessors  in  office. 

This  resoluton  was  adopted,  formally  committing  the  Corporation 
to  a  definite  policy  as  to  the  preservation  of  the  endowment  and  the 
limitation  of  use  of  surplus  revenue. 

At  this  time  the  actual  yearly  revenue  of  the  Corporation  from 
ground  rent  and  pew  rentals  was  reported  by  Henry  Anstice,  chair- 
man of  the  Pew  Committee,  as  being  $10,720. 

Meanwhile  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church  had  formally  called 
upon  the  vestry  of  St.  George's,  April  14,  1851,  in  accordance  with 
the  articles  of  agreement  between  the  two  corporations,  to  convey 
St.  George's  Chapel  in  Beekman  Street  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Evangelists.  This  church  was  located  in  Vandewater  Street,  having 
been  established  there  in  Dr.  Milnor's  time  by  the  City  Mission 
Society,  against  the  protest  of  the  vestry  of  St.  George's  as  already 
stated  in  this  history.  That  parish  being  in  embarrassed  circum- 
stances and  finding  prosperity  impossible  in  its  undesirable  location, 
gladly  availed  itself  of  the  proffer  by  Trinity  Church,  its  long-time 
benefactor,  of  the  old  St.  George's  Chapel.  The  conditions  imposed 
by  Trinity  were : 

That  a  bond  and  mortgage  to  Trinity  Church  for  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
the  purchase  money,  should  be  executed  by  the  Corporation  of  the  Holy 
Evangelists;  tliat  the  Vandewater  Street  property  should  be  abandoned  to 
Trinit}'  Church  to  pay  the  mortgages  upon  it;  that  no  person  should  be 
called  to  officiate  as  Rector  or  Minister  in  St.  George's  Chapel  without  the 
approval  of  the  Vestry  of  Trinity ;  that  the  name  '  St.  George's  Chapel ' 
or  '  Old  St.  George's  Chapel '  should  be  maintained  always,  and  that  Trinity 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  193 

should  be  allowed  to  place  a  marble  slab  in  front  of  the  tower,  inscribed 
with  that  name,  and  bearing  the  dates  of  its  erection,  destruction  by  fire, 
and  rebuilding. 

On  the  acceptance  of  these  conditions  by  the  rector  and  vestry  of 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Evangelists,  the  conveyance  of  the  prop- 
erty was  made  to  that  Corporation  by  St.  George's  Church,  July  21, 
1851,  in  pursuance  of  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  Articles  of 
Agreement  between  it  and  Trinity  Church  of  November  30,  1850, 
together  with  all  the  furniture,  clock,  bell,  and  organ. 


13 


CHAPTER    VIII 
THE     TYNG    PERIOD 

(1851-1865) 

Turning  now  from  the  temporalities  to  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the 
Church,  the  rector  was  authorized,  March  13,  1851,  to  "  employ  a 
clergyman  as  missionary  for  the  Sunday-schools  of  St.  George's  and 
to  lal3or  in  the  district  of  the  city  assigned  to  this  church."  The 
Eev.  Calvin  C.  Wolcott  was  appointed  such  missionary  at  a  salary 
of  eight  hundred  dollars,  the  lirst  in  a  long  line  of  successful  workers 
who  made,  under  the  rector's  guidance,  the  missionary  work  con- 
nected with  St.  George's  Sunday-schools,  such  a  continuing  and 
signal  influence  for  good,  not  only  in  the  community,  but  in  the 
spiritual  development  of  self-consecration  in  the  willing  workers  of 
the  congregation. 

The  personal  labors  of  the  rector  had  gradually  assumed,  under 
the  new  conditions  and  in  the  new  surroundings,  a  distinctive  and 
systematic  character,  which  with  little  variation  marked  the  whole 
course  of  his  more  active  ministry.  He  was  seldom  absent  from  his 
pulpit.  His  afternoon  discourses  were  especially  adapted  to  the 
instruction  of  the  young,  though  the  elder  members  of  the  con- 
gregation heard  them  with  the  utmost  interest  and  profit.  Series 
of  Gospel  sermons,  largely  on  Old  Testament  themes,  such  as  Ruth 
or  the  Rich  Kinsman,  Esther  the  Captive  Princess,  the  Religious 
Instruction  of  Animal  Instinct,  the  Botany  of  Scripture,  the  Moun- 
tains of  Scripture,  held  the  attention  in  successive  weeks  and  years 
of  large  and  deeply  interested  congregations,  the  spiritual  side  of 
every  Bible  incident  being  invariably  emphasized.  Two  week-day 
evening  lectures  were  regularly  maintained,  that  on  "Wednesday 
being  of  a  general  religious  character,  while  that  on  Friday  evening 
was  devoted  to  the  special  edification  of  the  Sunday-school  teachers 
and  others  interested,  the  subject  always  being  the  lesson  for  the 
following  Sunday.  A  lecture  preparatory  to  the  monthly  celebra- 
tion of  the  Holy  Communion  was  also  given  on  the  Saturday  evening^ 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  195 

preceding.  During  the  Lenten  season  additional  courses  of  instruc- 
tion accompanied  the  multiplied  services.  The  rector's  record  of 
his  work  shows  an  average  of  sixty  sermons  and  lectures  in  suc- 
cessive Lents  and  about  two  hundred  in  each  recurring  year.  His 
personal  attention  to  the  Sunday-schools  was  a  marked  characteristic 
of  his  ministry.  Each  Sunday  found  him  going  through  each  one 
of  the  departments  with  kindly  words  and  helpful  smiles,  which 
attached  the  children  and  young  people  to  him,  despite  a  certain 
austerity  of  demeanor  which  in  his  case  did  not  repel.  His  habit 
was  to  conduct  the  closing  exercises  in  the  main  department  of  the 
school,  and  his  earnest,  loving  words  were  always  listened  to  with 
interest  and  respect,  and  under  God's  blessing  have  left  a  deep 
abiding  impression  upon  many  lives.  In  the  regular  visitation  of 
the  families  of  the  parish  he  was  systematic  and  unremitting.  His 
sympathetic  ministries  to  the  sick  and  afflicted  were  specially  ac- 
ceptable and  fruitful,  and  bound  the  hearts  of  his  parishioners  to 
him  in  that  devoted  attachment  which  was  characteristic  of  St. 
George's  congregation,  while  his  personal  influence  for  good  ex- 
tended far  beyond  it,  as  people  from  a  distance  sought  his  counsel 
and  his  sympathy.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Dyer,  who  in  these  days  saw 
much  of  Dr.  Tyng,  writes  in  his  Records  of  an  Active  Life: 

The  new  St.  George's  had  but  recently  been  opened,  and  he  was  intensely 
engaged  in  building  ujj  a  comparatively  new  congTegation.  It  was  easy  to 
see  many  of  the  sources  of  his  wonderful  power.  Besides  his  remarkable 
gift  as  a  preacher,  he  was  very  accessible,  full  of  sympathy,  and  ready  every- 
where, and  on  all  occasions,  to  lend  a  helping  hand.  These  and  other  traits 
endeared  him  to  his  people,  both  to  the  young  and  the  old.  The  children 
were  amazingly  fond  of  him,  and  in  ministeriug  among  the  sick  and  sorrow- 
ing he  had  feAv  equals. 

In  a  ministry  which  made  such  incessant  demands  upon  the 
strength  of  the  rector  there  was  urgent  necessity  for  periodic  respite 
from  duty  and  care.  The  five  years  which  had  intervened  since 
his  last  trip  to  Europe  had  been  a  period  of  exceptional  toil  and 
anxiety,  and  in  the  spring  of  1853  the  vestry,  "  having  learned  that 
the  rector  is  unusually  debilitated  by  his  multiplied  labors  and  that 
temporary  relief  from  his  duties  and  a  voyage  to  Europe  would  be 
agreeable  to  him,"  tendered  him  release  from  duty  for  four  months 
and  one  thousand  dollars  to  defray  his  expenses.  He  accordingly 
arranged  to  be  present  in  London  at  the  Anniversary  Meetings  in 
May,  and  after  a  subsequent  brief  visit  to  the  Continent,  in  com- 
pany with  the  Rev.  Drs.  Butler,  Vinton,  and  Vermilye,  and  a  short 
trip  to  the  west  of  Ireland,  he  returned  home  much  refreshed  andi 
reinvigorated. 


196  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

On  the  completion  of  the  new  church  a  temporary  organ  was 
provided  and  Mr.  Henry  Greatorex  appointed  organist.  On  his 
resignation  in  May,  1850,  Henry  Dibble  was  appointed  in  his  place. 
In  April,  1852,  the  vestry,  deeming  that  the  time  had  come  for 
the  installation  of  a  suitable  organ  in  the  church,  directed  the 
music  committee,  consisting  of  Henry  Anstice  and  Adolphus  Lane, 
to  obtain  specifications  and  proposals  from  competent  organ- 
builders,  and  Frederick  S.  Winston  was  added  to  the  music  com- 
mittee, to  constitute  a  special  Committee  on  Organ.  At  the  next 
monthly  meeting  the  committee  submitted  a  plan  and  proposal  for 
an  organ  to  be  built  by  Henry  Erben,  for  the  sum  of  $6,000,  and 
the  committee  was  directed  to  close  the  contract  with  him  and  to 
cause  a  case  for  the  organ  to  be  erected  in  harmony  with  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  church.  An  additional  thirty-two-foot  stop  of  twenty- 
seven  metal  pipes  was  subsequently  authorized  at  an  additional  ex- 
pense of  $750.  The  new  organ  was  completed  early  in  1853,  and 
the  following  appointments  m.ade  by  the  music  committee  were 
approved  by  the  vestry :  organist,  John  Zundel,  at  a  salary  of  $500 ; 
soprano,  Mrs.  Stewart,  $400;  contralto,  Miss  Griswold,  $200;  tenor, 
Mr.  Hopkins,  $200 ;  bass,  Mr.  Scott,  $200. 

Mr.  Zundel  had  been  employed  to  superintend  the  construction 
of  the  organ  and  in  his  report  he  says : 

The  superior  qualities  of  the  organ  are  such  as  to  give  satisfaction  to 
any  unprejudiced  player  or  hearer.  The  entire  work  is  throughout  masterly 
executed,  and  the  material  of  the  best  quality,  the  woi'kmanship  skilful 
and  careful,  showing  everywhere  an  experienced  hand.  The  pipe  work 
shows  the  same  evidence  in  regard  to  make.  The  voicing  of  it  was,  accord- 
ing to  the  express  wish  of  the  committee,  to  be  of  a  soft  character,  affording 
consequently  not  as  much  brilliancy,  or  noise,  as  might  be  partly  expected, 
but  gives  a  more  dignified  church-like  effect  with  sufficient  power  of  tone 
for  our  present  church  music.  The  variety  of  the  different  stops  imitating 
almost  every  instrument  of  an  orchestra  surpasses  anything  yet  made  in  this 
country. 

The  choir  appointments  for  1854  included  the  name  of  Miss 
Ann  Stone,  soprano,  at  a  rise  of  salary  of  $300  over  her  predecessor, 
the  other  stipends  remaining  at  the  old  figures.  At  least  one  re- 
hearsal a  week  was  stipulated  for  and  attendance  at  all  public 
services  in  the  church,  and  also  at  funerals  when  desired,  for  which 
latter  service  they  should  be  entitled  to  receive  five  dollars  each. 
Mr.  Zundel  resigned  as  organist  in  October  of  the  same  year,  and 
George  F.  Bristow  was  appointed  in  his  place.  Tn  April,  1855,  Miss 
Stone's  salary  was  increased  by  $300  more,  to  $1,000,  and  she  was 
designated  as  director  of  the  music.     In  April,  1857,  Mrs.  Anna 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  197 

Elliot  succeeded  her  at  the  same  salary.  In  December,  1858,  the 
vestry  determined  to  discontinue  after  the  ensuing  May  the  present 
organization  of  the  choir  and  to  appoint  a  chorister  to  lead  the 
music.  The  reorganization  in  the  spring  included  Miss  Cornelia  A. 
Dingley,  at  $500,  as  soprano,  Miss  Sarah  Bagley  as  alto,  Joseph  W. 
Mather  as  tenor,  and  John  Harbett  as  bass,  at  $200  each,  the  organ- 
ist, Mr.  Bristow,  being  retained  and  appointed  conductor.  It  was, 
however,  resolved  that  the  music  committee  be  authorized  to  es- 
tablish congregational  rehearsals  at  which  the  choir  should  rehearse 
weekly  for  the  services  of  the  following  Sunday,  and  the  members 
of  the  congregation  be  invited  to  attend  and  participate. 

A  new  organist  was  employed  in  the  spring  of  1860,  William 
A.  King,  the  soprano,  alto,  and  bass  singers  being  retained.  In  the 
following  spring  Mr.  King,  Mr.  Harbett,  and  Miss  Bagley  resigned, 
and  the  vestry  appointed  Harry  W.  A.  Scale  as  organist,  and 
decided,  pending  inquiry  into  the  practicability  of  engaging  a 
precentor  to  conduct  the  music  in  so  large  a  church,  that  the  two 
vacancies  be  filled  for  only  six  months,  so  that  the  change,  if  later 
determined  upon,  could  be  made  with  greater  economy.  It  was 
thought  possible,  moreover,  that  a  precentor  could  be  found  who 
could  sustain  the  bass  part  and  also  train  some  boys  for  the  choir. 
The  musical  affairs  of  the  church,  however,  do  not  appear  to  have 
gone  very  smoothly.  An  auxiliary  choir  was  authorized  in  1864,  at 
a  cost  not  to  exceed  $500,  and  in  1865  the  annual  expense  for  music 
had  increased  to  $2,100  per  annum. 

The  Kev.  Dr.  Heman  Dyer  became  assistant  to  the  rector  at  a 
salary  of  five  hundred  dollars  from  May  1,  1854,  prior  to  which 
time  the  Rev.  N.  "W.  Camp  had  assisted  him  in  the  public  services. 

It  had  been  the  custom  of  the  vestry,  since  the  beginning  of  Dr. 
Miluor's  ministry,  to  make  an  annual  addition  to  the  rector's  salary 
of  one  thousand  dollars.  The  rector's  regular  salary  was  now  in- 
creased, February  9,  1854,  to  four  thousand  dollars,  to  which  addi- 
tions were  made  each  year  in  increasing  amounts  until  the  annual 
income  of  the  rector  from  his  generous  church  reached  ten  thousand 
dollars  per  year. 

Dr.  Tyng  had  not  been  in  the  habit  of  making  an  annual  report 
to  the  Diocesan  Convention ;  he  had  made  only  one  since  coming  to 
New  York,  which  was  in  1858.  In  place  of  the  report  in  1855, 
he,  however,  furnished  an  abstract  from  his  tenth  anniversary  dis- 
course, which  so  well  epitomizes  the  work  of  the  period  which  it 
covers,  that  it  is  here  reproduced  in  substance  from  the  Diocesan 
Journal : 


198  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

When  I  became  rector  of  St.  George's,  I  found  220  communicants  in 
actual  connection  with  the  Church,  of  whom  but  41  are  now  stated  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation.  To  them  have  been  added  690  in  the  ten  years 
of  my  ministry,  197  coming  from  other  churches  and  493  being  received  by 
me  in  their  first  communion.  From  this  \\'hole  number  of  919,  77  have 
been  removed  either  by  death  or  by  transfer.  Our  present  number  is 
833.  Our  habitual  attendance  of  communicants  does  not  vary  much  from 
700.  Baptisms  administered  by  me  have  been  407,  81  adults  and  326 
infants.    The  confirmations  have  been  445,  the  marriages  228. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  j^arts  of  our  whole  work,  and  the  one  in 
which  my  own  mmd  and  heart  are  always  perhaps  more  deejoly  interested 
than  in  any  other,  is  our  Sunday-schools.  We  commenced  our  Sunday- 
schools  in  connection  with  this  Church  in  November,  1847,  with  35  chil- 
dren and  9  teachers.  At  our  first  public  anniversary  at  Easter,  1850, 
there  were  42  teachers  and  445  scholars;  at  our  second,  49  teachers  and 
660  scholars;  at  our  third,  57  teachers  and  945  scholars;  at  the  fourth,  61 
teachers  and  1,014  scholars;  at  our  fifth,  60  teachers  and  1,090  scholars; 
and  at  our  sixth,  60  teachers  and  1,163  scholars.  Within  the  last  year  a 
mission  Sunday-school  has  been  opened  in  connection  with  this  Church  on 
Avenue  A  and  Nineteenth  Street,  which  reports  to  me  at  its  first  an- 
niversary 33  teachers  and  423  scholars,  making  in  all  in  our  Sunday-school 
department  93  teachers  and  1,586  scholars,  a  total  of  1,679. 

Four  years  ago,  by  permission  of  the  vestry,  I  employed  the  Rev.  Calvin 
C.  Wolcott  as  a  domestic  missionary  in  connection  with  this  Church 
to  aid  me  in  my  large  field  of  parochial  duty.  I  have  much  reason  to 
be  satisfied  with  the  fidelity  and  success  of  his  work.  My  pei'sonal  labors 
have  included  an  average  of  more  than  200  sermons  and  lectures  and  over 
1,000  pastoral  visits  in  each  year.  Of  these  I  have  nothing  more  to  say 
than  that  my  public  labors  have  always  been  received  by  my  people  with 
a  grateful  resjject  and  estimation  far  beyond  any  claim  they  may  have 
possessed;  and  my  private  intercourse  with  them  has  been  welcomed  and 
rewarded  by  an  affectionate  tenderness  and  unrelaxing  and  reverential 
confidence  Avhich  has  left  me  nothing  to  ask. 

I  conclude  this  survey  of  the  past  ten  years  with  a  review  of  our  benevo- 
lent statistics  for  the  same  period.  The  whole  public  collections  in  the 
congTegation  are  recorded  as  thej'  have  passed  through  my  hands,  excluding 
all  those  contributions  which  have  been  made  without  my  connection  or 
particular  reports  to  me.  The  collections  have  been,  omitting  fractions 
of  a  dollar:  for  the  years  ending  Easter,  1846,  $2,800;  1847,  $3,502;  1848, 
$4,761;  1849,  $4,703;  1850,  $4,942;  1851.  $5,215;  1852,  $10,036;  1853, 
.$12,441;  1854,  $12,646;  1855,  $16,039;  total  for  ten  years,  $77,995.  The 
objects  for  which  collections  have  been  made  are:  American  Bible 
Society,  $13,313;  Foreign  Missions,  $13,918;  Domestic  Missions,  $6,471; 
Diocesan  Missions,  $2,778;  American  Tract  Society,  $11,354;  Sunday- 
schools  of  St.  George's  Church,  $2,992;  American  Sunday-school  Union, 
$1,.353;  Evangelical  Knowledge  Society,  $2,587;  Colonization  Society, 
$1,722;  Seamen  and  Seamen's  Childi-en,  $1,807;  Education  for  the  Min- 
istry, $2,092;  Aged  and  Infirm  Clergymen,  $992;  Temperance  Society, 
$495;  Praver-Book  Society.  $244;  Communion  and  General  Collections, 
$14,977. 

The  Dorcas  Society  has  made  and  distributed  during  the  past  six  years 
5,942   garments   among   the   poor   children   of  the    Sunday-schools,    at   the 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  199 

cost  in  money  of  $1,795  besides  the  donations  received  in  materials  for 
the  work.  The  ladies  have  also  maintained  a  sewing-school  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  poor  children,  and  a  daily  j^arish  school  has  also  been  sui^i^orted 
for  the  last  four  years.  The  consideration  of  the  wants  of  others  and  our 
own  obligations  require  perhaps  as  much  of  '  the  spirit  of  power  and  of 
love  and  of  a  sound  mind,'  as  any  other  department  of  our  work.  There 
must  be  first,  this  combination  of  firmness,  tenderness,  and  discrimination 
to  avoid,  on  the  one  side,  the  pretenses  of  impostors,  and  on  the  other, 
the  impatience  which  the  increasing  annoyances  of  solicitations  are  adapted 
to  produce.  The  more  experience  we  have  in  the  work  the  more  will  this 
necessity  be  pereeived.  Some  claims  must  be  refused ;  not  to  refuse  wi'ongly 
and  to  distribute  rightly  and  gladly,  according  to  our  means,  demand  im- 
portant gifts. 

The  emphasis  which  Dr.  Tyng  placed  in  the  beginning  of  the  fore- 
going report  on  his  Sunday-school  work  and  its  significant  position 
in  his  whole  ministerial  career  suggests  the  introduction  of  a  mono- 
graph respecting  it. 

When  Dr.  Tyng  assumed  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's,  the  Sun- 
day-school numbered  thirty  teachers  and  two  hundred  scholars.  In 
the  brief  time  intervening  before  the  inauguration  of  the  new  enter- 
prise up-town  he  had  little  opportunity  to  do  more  than  to  per- 
petuate as  well  as  might  be,  under  the  declining  conditions  of  the 
situation,  the  admirable  work  which  his  predecessor  had  built  up. 
But  the  establishment  of  the  Sunday-schools  in  the  new  St.  George's 
afforded  amplest  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  that  splendid  talent 
for  organization  and  effective  management  which  was  characteristic 
of  Dr.  Tyng,  and  in  its  application  to  Sunday-school  work  entitled 
him  to  a  unique  and  foremost  place.  His  previous  five  years'  ex- 
perience in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Philadelphia,  prepared  him  for  the 
founding  of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany  in  that  same  city,  of  which 
he  wrote :  ' '  We  founded  this  church  with  the  distinct  understand- 
ing and  plan  that  the  Sunday-school  should  be  the  main  and  promi- 
nent object  of  regard,  and  its  convenience  and  successful  operation 
thoroughly  provided  for;  and  we  carried  out  this  principle  com- 
pletely." His  scheme  and  methods  were  continued  and  elaborated 
by  his  successor.  Dr.  Eichard  Newton,  so  effectively  that  Dr.  New- 
ton's name  is  fitly  linked  with  his  among  the  princely  leaders  in 
Sunday-school  endeavor.  Into  his  New  York  field  of  labor,  therefore, 
Dr.  Tyng  brought  plans  and  methods  which  had  been  amply  tested 
by  experience  and  in  whose  execution  he  found  intensest  joy  and 
satisfaction.  For  he  loved  children  and  drew  out  their  confidence 
and  love.  And  what  he  wrought  in  this  field  is  so  noteworthy  a 
part  of  the  parochial  history  of  St.  George's  as  to  entitle  it  to  some 
particularized  review. 


200  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  nucleus  of  the  future  Sunday-school  of  the  up-town  St. 
George's  was  gathered  where  the  forming  congregation  met,  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  University  of  New  York,  on  Washington  Square,  with 
about  thirty  children  in  November,  1847.  Another  nucleus  was  gath- 
ered in  a  house  on  Sixteenth  Street,  where  it  continued  growing 
until  the  fall  of  1848,  when  the  Sunday-school  work  was  concentrated 
and  accommodated  in  the  galleries  of  the  new  church,  pending  the 
completion  of  the  Sunday-school  building.  For  at  the  outset  Dr. 
Tyng  had  urged  upon  his  congregation  the  erection  of  this  building 
as  a  paramount  duty  of  the  church.  "  The  obligation  to  provide 
a  decent  and  appropriate  house  for  their  own  worship  is  no  more 
imperative,"  he  said,  "  than  the  obligation  to  make  similar  just 
and  ample  provision  for  the  care  and  convenience  of  their  Sunday- 
school.  The  duty  of  supporting  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to 
adults,  and  of  maintaining  the  pastoral  office  for  the  purpose,  is  not 
more  obligatory  or  needful  than  the  duty  of  full  and  adequate 
provision  for  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  children  in  the  appropriate 
arrangements  of  the  Sunday-school. ' ' 

From  the  establishment  of  the  Sunday-school  in  this  building, 
commonly  called  the  chapel,  on  its  completion  in  October,  1849,  the 
school  grew  with  marvelous  rapidity.  At  the  first  anniversary,  on 
the  Sunday  after  Easter,  1850,  forty-two  teachers  and  445  scholars 
were  reported,  and  the  growth  in  the  ensuing  years  was  strikingly 
wonderful.  At  the  sixth  anniversary,  in  1855,  there  was  an  aggre- 
gate of  sixty  teachers  and  1,163  scholars  in  the  various  departments. 
Meanwhile  a  mission  school  had  been  established  in  Nineteenth 
Street,  and  at  the  next  anniversary,  in  1856,  it  was  present  in  the 
church  with  its  thirty-three  teachers  and  423  scholars,  making  a 
total  for  both  schools  of  1,679.  As  other  missions  were  established, 
the  total  membership  of  the  schools  of  the  parish  naturally  increased, 
until  for  the  six  years,  from  1861  to  1866,  the  aggregate  was  over 
two  thousand. 

The  church  was  deeply  interested  in  its  Sunday-schools  and  lib- 
erally supported  them.  Few  of  its  families  were  unrepresented  in 
the  schools  themselves,  and  it  was  not  uncommon  for  both  parents 
and  children  of  the  same  family  to  be  regular  attendants  as  workers 
or  learners.  Many  who  began  in  the  infant  school  passed  through 
the  several  grades  to  become  well-equipped  and  faithful  teachers, 
owing  their  knowledge  of  the  Book  of  Books  and  the  nurture  of 
their  spiritual  life  to  the  inspiration  of  their  beloved  rector  and 
the  effective  methods  which  he  organized  and  personally  directed 
in  his  well-ordered  schools.     Many  such  still  vividly  remember  his 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  201 

dignified  yet  kindly  and  paternal  bearing  as  in  his  unremitting 
superintendence  of  the  schools  he  passed  from  room  to  room  and 
from  class  to  class  each  Sunday,  with  his  alert  eye  everywhere, 
extending  greetings,  answering  questions,  saying  an  apt  word,  and 
making  every  scholar  feel  that  their  beloved  pastor  had  loving 
personal  relations  with  each  one  of  them.  They  knew  he  cared  for 
them,  took  pleasure  in  their  growth  in  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and 
in  spiritual  life,  and  warm  attachment  to  him  was  the  natural  re- 
sult. The  plans  which  he  devised  for  their  instruction,  and  at  times 
amusement,  were  keenly  well  appreciated.  Many  can  well  recall 
those  memorable  Thanksgiving  afternoons,  when  he  gave  magic- 
lantern  exhibitions  in  the  chapel,  of  which  it  would  be  difficult  to 
say.  who  most  enjoyed  them,  the  children  or  the  rector,  who,  perched 
on  a  high  platform,  manipulated  slides  portraying  Scripture  scenes 
and  other  views  of  interest  and  ending  with  those  comic  moving 
pictures  which  were  always  greeted  with  rapturous  delight.  One 
who  vividly  remembers  that  wonderful  magic-lantern  writes : 

It  was  the  magic  of  Di*.  Tyng's  jaersonality  and  the  magic  of  his  de- 
scriptions which  made  those  i:)ietures  real.  The  devotion  of  children  to  him 
was  marvelous.  I  can  remember  now  the  thrill  of  delight  and  excitement 
when  he  came  to  call  on  mother.  We  little  guis  would  drop  our  toys  and 
rush  for  the  drawing-room  to  get  a  place  nest  to  him  on  the  sofa.  As  there 
were  three  of  us,,  one  of  course  was  always  left  out.  One  of  my  sisters 
on  one  occasion  had  been  washing  her  doll's  clothes;  she  brought  each 
article  to  the  doctor,  held  it  up  for  his  inspection,  much  to  my  mother's 
consternation,  and  received  the  heartiest  praise  and  interest  from  liim  for 
her  work.  And  as  we  grew  older,  we  realized  what  the  spiritual  influence  of 
St.  George's  great  preacher,  gi-eat  evangelist,  I  should  say,  meant  to  us. 

The  personal  labor  involved  in  the  details  of  superintendence  and 
oversight  was  cheerfully  undertaken  because  he  felt  such  a  keen 
sense  of  the  importance  of  the  work  and  the  pastoral  advantage 
derivable  from  the  cultivation  and  maintenance  of  those  closer  ties 
between  himself  and  the  younger  members  of  his  flock,  which  this 
relation  secured  and  which  vastlj^  enhanced  his  influence  over  them 
for  good.  It  was  in  pursuance  of  the  same  idea  of  special  attention 
to  the  interests  of  the  young  committed  to  his  care  that  he  devoted 
the  afternoon  services  of  every  Sunday  to  topics  made  intelligible 
to  them  and  specially  adapted  to  rivet  their  attention ;  which  ser- 
mons proved  both  edifying  and  instructive  to  all  classes  of  his 
hearers.  The  subject  of  the  lesson  for  the  ensuing  Sunday  was  regu- 
larly treated  at  the  Friday  evening  lectures,  not  only  to  impress 
upon  the  congregation  present  the  truth  deducible  from  any  portion 


202  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

of  God's  Holy  Word,  but  to  assist  the  teachers  in  grasping  and 
developing  that  truth  so  as  themselves  to  impart  it  more  effectively 
to  the  young  souls  for  whom  they  were  in  part  responsible.  For 
Dr.  Tyng's  conception  of  the  teacher's  office  was  to  labor  for  the 
conversion  of  the  members  of  the  class,  by  which  he  meant  "  the 
real  spiritual  turning  of  the  heart  to  God,  and  its  renewal  for  His 
service  by  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and  the  instrument  of  conversion,  with 
children  as  with  adults,  he  held  to  be  "  the  Word  of  truth,  the 
simple  message  of  redeeming  love."  The  text-book  of  his  Sunday- 
schools  was  therefore  the  Bible.  He  expounded  the  Church  Cate- 
chism himself  in  the  main  school  once  each  month.  But  he  stressed 
plain  Biblical  teaching  out  of  The  Book  itself.  Every  scholar  com- 
mitted to  memory  a  portion  of  it  each  week,  and  during  the  session 
had  the  Bible  in  his  hand  to  look  up  references  and  familiarize  him 
with  its  order  and  its  contents.  He  did  not  undervalue  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Prayer  Book,  but  with  him.  it  was  "  the  Prayer  Book 
illustrated  by  Scripture  ";  and  himself  prepared  three  manuals 
for  Sunday-school  instruction  based  on  this  idea,  on  the  Collects, 
the  Epistles  and  Gospels,  and  the  Catechism  and  Confirmation 
Office.  But  the  emphasis  he  placed  upon  the  Bible  itself.  He  felt 
that  children  should  grow  up  that,  like  St.  Timothy,  it  might  be 
said  of  them  "  from  a  child  thou  hast  known  the  Holy  Scriptures 
which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation."  His  views  upon 
the  matter  he  thus  expressed  in  his  little  work  entitled  Forty  Years' 
Experience  in  Sunday  Schools: 

This  wonderful  book  is  always  interesting,  attractive,  and  instructive. 
No  children  in  our  schools  are  too  young  to  delight  in  its  stories,  or  to 
eomijrebend  the  history  and  tlie  love  of  that  great  Saviour  in  whom  all  its 
instructions  meet. 

It  never  wearies  their  attention  or  fails  to  awaken  their  conversation 
and  their  thoughts.  Its  language  is  the  most  intelligible,  its  narrations 
are  the  most  simple  and  natural,  its  principles  and  tniths  are  the  most 
dear  and  easily  comprehended  which  can  be  given  to  the  young.  And  the 
time  expended  in  its  study  and  its  exposition  in  a  well-ordered  Sunday- 
school  is  always  found  too  short  and  too  rapid  for  the  gxeat  jjurpose  for 
which  it  is  devoted. 

The  book  for  the  Sunday-school  is  the  Bible. 

Once  in  addressing  a  meeting  of  Sunday-school  teachers  he  aptly 
illustrated  his  position  by  an  incident  at  the  death-bed  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott : 

Turning  one  day  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Lockhart,  he  asked  him  to  read  to 
him,  and  when  his  son-in-law  replied  by  asking  him,  '  What  book  shall  I 
read?'  'What  book?'  exclaimed  that  eminent  man,  'what  book?  There 
is  but  one  book,  Lockhart;  read  the  Bible.' 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  203 

The  Sunday-schools  of  St.  George's  were,  therefore,  distinctly 
and  pre-eminently  Bible  Schools,  that  the  scholars  therein  might 
become,  through  the  knowledge  of  divine  truth  wise  unto  salvation 
and  be  led  to  a  public  confession  of  the  Saviour.  Dr.  Tyng  once 
told  a  visitor,  as  his  eyes  swept  over  the  busy  throng  at  work 
in  the  main  school:  "  Every  teacher  in  this  room  started  under  my 
eye  as  a  scholar  in  the  infant  class.  I  have  trained  them  all  my- 
self, and  I  know  them  all  and  they  know  me;  they  are  my  chil- 
dren in  the  faith."  And  he  further  said  that  he  "  knew  of  more 
than  fifty  ministers  of  Christ  who  had  been  under  his  oversight 
as  scholars  in  that  infant  class. ' '  That  he  regarded  his  work  among 
the  children  as  the  most  important  and  promising  field  of  pastoral 
duty  is  attested  by  this  utterance  in  a  public  address:  "  For  years, 
if  the  choice  before  me  in  my  work  as  a  pastor  has  been  between 
one  child  and  two  adults,  I  have  always  been  ready  to  take  the 
child."  And  again,  in  a  lighter  vein,  at  a  convention  of  Sunday- 
school  teachers  in  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn,  he  said : 

T  can  see  the  Devil  looking  in  at  that  door  and  sajdng  to  the  minister 
on  this  platform,  '  Now  you  just  stand  there  and  fire  away  at  the  old  folks 
and  I  will  go  around  and  steal  away  the  little  ones — as  the  Indians  steal 
ducks,  swimming  under  them,  catching  them  by  the  leg  and  pulling  them 
under,' 

One  of  the  most  strikingly  marked  features  of  the  administration 
of  St.  George's  Sunday-schools  was  the  stated  anniversary  on  the 
first  Sunday  after  Easter.  Dr.  Tyng  accounted  a  well-conducted 
anniversary  occasion  as  of  great  value  to  the  school,  attracting  at- 
tention to  it,  enlarging  its  usefulness  by  increasing  its  membership, 
emphasizing  its  place  and  importance  in  the  parochial  scheme  of 
work,  and  giving  pleasurable  satisfaction  to  both  teachers  and 
scholars  engaged  in  it.  On  each  of  these  occasions  the  rector  was 
accustomed  to  present  a  book  to  every  scholar,  not  as  a  reward,  but 
as  a  token  of  interest  and  remembrance  on  the  part  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  in  many  families  long  connected  with  the  school  these  care- 
fully treasured  volumes  were  a  unique  little  library.  None  who  ever 
attended  these  anniversaries  could  fail  to  remember  the  impression 
produced  by  the  animated  scene.  The  seating  capacity  of  the  floor 
of  the  church  was  taxed  to  the  utmost  by  the  teachers  and  scholars 
of  the  church  and  the  mission  schools ;  the  galleries  were  crowded 
with  members  of  the  congregation  and  interested  friends ;  the  chancel 
was  filled  with  plants  and  flowers  and  the  piled-up  books  for  dis- 
tribution arranged  in  packages  for  every  class;  and  in  the  pulpit 
Dr.  Tyng,  his  face  beaming  with  happiness,  received  the  floral  or 


204  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

other  emblems  appropriately  descriptive  of  the  names  of  the  several 
classes  accompanying  their  offerings,  depositing  these  about  him 
"  till  there  was  no  place  "  ;  and  the  sermon  was  always  in  the  rector's 
happiest  vein.  The  anniversaries  always  attracted  wide  and  merited 
attention  and  were  an  object-lesson  of  great  value. 

The  offerings  thus  presented  were  announced  as  each  one  was 
received  at  the  hands  of  a  member  of  the  class  designated  to  take 
it  to  the  rector,  none  knowing  until  then  what  any  other  class  had 
done  by  way  of  contributions ;  and  the  grand  total  was  made  known 
before  the  exercises  closed.  Before  this  method  was  adopted  money 
for  missions  was  gathered  in  the  schools  weekly  or  monthly.  But 
with  the  adoption  of  the  plan  of  making  every  class  a  missionary 
body,  with  some  self  -  chosen  name  most  always  taken  from  the 
Scriptures,  collecting  its  own  fund  each  week  with  its  own  treasurer, 
the  contributions  mounted  up  from  a  few  hundred  dollars  to  an 
annual  aggregate  of  thousands.  At  the  seventh  anniversary  the 
total  was  $3,280.50,  increasing  yearly,  till  at  the  eleventh  it  had 
mounted  to  $5,409.92. 

The  inculcation  of  benevolence  went  hand  in  hand  with  Scripture- 
teaching  in  St.  George's  Sunday-schools.  The  rector  every  year 
addressed  an  earnest  letter  to  the  schools  to  do  their  best  for  missions. 
The  first  work  undertaken  was  to  complete  a  stone  church  in  Mon- 
rovia, Africa,  which  was  to  cost  seven  thousand  dollars.  The  chil- 
dren were  encouraged  to  solicit  aid  from  others  in  their  missionary 
work,  but  contributions  of  this  sort  were  to  be  handed  in  as  separate 
from  and  in  addition  to  gifts  of  their  own ;  and  that  the  children 
might  be  sensible  of  his  deep  sympathy  and  interest  in  their  work, 
the  rector  cheerfull}^  co  -  operated  through  the  proceeds  of  some 
lecture  or  the  sale  and  profit  from  one  of  his  books  or  through  gifts 
solicited  from  friends. 

On  the  approach  of  the  ninth  anniversary  his  letter  to  the  school 
proposed  a  new  departure  while  they  were  still  contributing  to  the 
completion  of  the  Monrovian  church : 

My  Deae  Friekds  and  Children  : — Our  Ninth  Anniversary  is  approach- 
ing. The  18th  of  April  will  be  the  day,  if  the  Lord  will.  We  must  try 
to  get  up  our  Missionaiy -work  as  far  and  as  full  as  we  can.  We  have 
contributed  over  six  thousand  dollars  to  build  a  church  in  Africa;  we  have 
given  over  three  thousand  dollars  to  build  churches  in  the  western  part  of 
our  own  countiy. 

Now  I  propose  to  you  that  we  shall  unite  to  build  a  Free  Mission  Chapel 
for  the  poor  in  our  own  city.  There  is  in  this  city  as  much  need  of  mission- 
ary work  as  in  any  part  of  our  country.  There  are  thousands  of  j^eople 
for  whom  no  church  has  been  provided,  and  who  have  no  means  or  opi^or- 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  205 

tunity  for  the  public  worship  of  our  gi-acious  God  and  Saviour.  To  build 
a  Missionary  Chapel  ourselves,  by  the  efforts  of  the  Sunday-schools  alone, 
will  be  a  noble  effort.  In  two  or  three  years'  collections,  we  can  easily  do 
it.    Let  us  undertake  it  now. 

Thus  was  begun  St.  George's  Mission  Chapel  in  Nineteenth  Street. 
Scarcely  was  it  completed,  in  1861,  when  a  German  chapel  in  Four- 
teenth Street  was  projected.  This  having  been  completed  in  1863, 
the  Sunday-school  collections  were  applied  to  furnishing  the  chancel 
of  the  church  after  the  disastrous  fire  of  1865. 

The  necessity  for  more  accommodation  for  the  German  congrega- 
tion in  Fourteenth  Street  and  the  Mission  of  the  Bread  of  Life, 
which  had  been  occupying  utterly  inadequate  and  rented  quarters, 
resulted  in  the  erection  of  a  new  building  on  the  Fourteenth  Street 
site,  enlarged  by  the  purchase  of  an  adjoining  lot,  and  so  arranged 
that  both  missions  were  well  accommodated  therein.  It  was  com- 
pleted in  the  fall  of  1872,  at  a  cost  of  forty  thousand  dollars,  of  which 
the  Sunday-schools  provided  the  most  part.  During  the  twenty- 
seven  years  covered  by  the  last  report  which  Dr.  Tyng  himself  pre- 
pared in  1876,  the  total  contributions  of  the  schools  for  missionary 
and  other  objects  aggregated  the  magnificent  sum  of  $84,869.07,  in 
itself  a  monument  to  the  generosity  and  devotion  of  the  teachers 
and  scholars  and  to  the  energetic,  indefatigable,  and  inspiring  leader- 
ship of  Dr.  Tyng. 

The  question  of  completing  the  church  edifice,  by  the  erection 
of  the  spires,  having  been  for  some  time  under  consideration,  the 
committee  which  had  carefully  examined  the  property,  income,  and 
expenditures  presented  a  detailed  report  of  the  same,  February  8, 
1855,  recommending  the  erection  of  the  towers  and  steeples,  pro- 
vided a  sinking  fund  of  $3,500  per  annum  out  of  the  surplus  income 
should  be  created,  to  be  used  in  replacing  such  loans  as  might  be 
made  from  the  capital  fund  of  .$100,000  in  erecting  the  towers  and 
steeples  now  proposed  to  be  built;  and  that  the  annual  expenses 
of  the  church  be  limited  meanwhile  to  figures  sul)sequently  fixed 
by  the  vestry  at  $12,500.  The  work  was  speedily  undertaken,  and 
in  November,  1856,  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $45,700.  As  a  mark 
of  appreciation  of  the  skill  and  fidelity  of  the  architect,  Mr.  Eidlitz, 
a  special  appropriation  of  $1,000  was  made  to  him.  A  clock  was 
ordered  for  the  spires  at  a  cost  of  $1,800.  A  bell  was  subsequently 
ordered  at  an  expense  of  $1,250. 

As  the  grand  and  beautiful  edifice  was  now  entirely  complete, 
two  marble  tablets  were  directed  to  be  placed  between  the  piers 
inside  the  church,  with  the  following  inscriptions,  which  should  be 


206  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

preserved  in  this  History,  as  the  tablets  themselves  perished  in  the 
fire  of  1865 : 

First  Tablet. 

ST.  George's  church  new  york. 

Comer  Stone  of  this  Church  laid  June  23d  1846. 

Church  opened  for  Public  Worship  November  19th  1848. 

Consecrated  December  4th  1849. 

Spires  completed  November  1856. 

Building  Committee 

John  Stearns,  M.D. 

William  Whitloek  Jun'r. 

Frederick  S.  Winston. 

Jacob  Le  Roy. 

Peter  G.  Arcularius. 

Samuel  Hopkins. 

Architects 

Otto  Bleseh. 
Leopold  Eidlitz. 

Second  Tablet. 

corporation  of  ST.  George's  church 

by  whom  this  Edifice  was  erected. 

Rev'd  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.  Rector. 

Church  Wardens. 

John  Stearns  M.D. 

William  Whitloek  Jun'r. 

Frederick  S.  Winston. 

Adolphus  Lane. 

Vestrymen 

Thomas  L.  Callender. 

Samuel  M.  Cornell. 

Henry  Anstice. 

Joseph  Lawrence. 

Jacob  Le  Roy. 

Peter  G.  Arcularius. 

Samuel  Hopkins. 

William  K.  Strong. 

Ross  W.  Wood. 

Charles  Tracy. 

Horace  Webster. 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  207 

The  church  edifice  being  thus  completed,  it  may  be  well  to  call 
attention  to  two  distinctive  crowning  features  of  it,  which,  unhappily, 
are  no  longer  parts  of  the  structure  as  it  now  stands.  The  general 
outline  of  the  noble  architecture,  as  originally  designed,  it  was  possible 
to  preserve  and  perpetuate  after  the  disastrous  fire,  but  the  beautiful 
and  graceful  spires  are  no  more,  and  the  unique  arrangement  of  the 
galleries  without  supporting  pillars  to  obstruct  the  view  had  to  be 
sacrificed.  The  architects  were  a  young  firm  composed  of  a  Bavarian, 
Otto  Blesch,  and  a  Bohemian,  Leopold  Eidlitz,  who  collaborated  on 
the  plans,  the  exterior  being  mainly  the  work  of  the  former  and  the 
interior  of  the  latter.  The  senior  partner  soon,  however,  falling  ill, 
the  execution  of  the  work  of  building  devolved  entirely  upon  the 
junior,  whose  genius  and  ability  were  so  signally  manifested  as  the 
work  progressed  that,  3'oung  as  he  was,  having  been  born  in  Prague 
March  29,  1823,  his  reputation  was  assured.  The  edifice  was  an 
example  of  the  South  German  phase  of  the  Gothic,  or,  more  properly, 
the  Eomanesque  style.  The  Gothic  spires  were  an  elegant  expression 
of  tracery  in  stone,  at  a  time  when  a  spire  of  any  kind  in  solid 
masonry  was  rare  in  New  York,  if,  indeed,  there  were  any  other  than 
the  slender  crocketed  cone  of  Trinity.  A  marked  feature  of  the 
interior,  as  striking  in  its  way  as  the  open-work  spires,  was  the  wide 
galleries  extending  on  both  sides  and  the  rear  end  of  the  great 
church  without  a  column  to  uphold  them.  This  unique  achievement 
of  the  architect  was  effected  by  anchoring  brackets  of  great  strength 
through  the  walls  into  the  exterior  buttresses,  and  the  resulting 
freedom  from  obstruction  of  the  whole  floor  area  added  materially 
to  the  church's  beauty  and  impressiveness.  The  successful  realiza- 
tion of  these  plans  gave  Mr.  Eidlitz  at  once  an  enviable  position 
among  his  fellow-craftsmen,  and  he  lived  to  enjoy  a  distinguished 
architectural  career. 

In  the  spring  of  1857  the  vestry,  believing  that  relaxation  from 
his  arduous  duties  would  be  of  benefit  to  the  rector,  tendered  him  a 
leave  of  absence  till  October  1st  and  fifteen  hundred  dollars  to 
defray  his  expenses.  He  had  long  cherished  a  desire  to  visit  the 
Holy  Land,  but  had  been  unable  to  leave  his  work  in  a  season  of 
the  year  favorable  to  journeying  in  that  country.  It  was  indeed 
already  late  in  the  season,  but  he  lost  no  time  and  reached  Jaffa 
and  Jerusalem  in  June.  His  homeward  journey  was  by  way  of 
Constantinople,  Athens,  and  Marseilles,  and  after  a  short  trip 
through  Switzerland  and  Germany  and  a  few  weeks  in  England, 
he  sailed  for  New  York  about  the  middle  of  September.    An  appro- 


208  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

priation  of  five  hundred  dollars  was  made  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dyer 
for  extra  service  during  the  absence  of  the  rector. 

On  the  18th  of  March,  1858,  occurred  the  lamented  death  of  Peter 
G.  Arcularius,  who  had  for  many  years  been  a  faithful  and  efficient 
member  of  the  vestry,  and  to  whose  usefulness  and  fidelity  and 
Christian  character  the  records  of  the  vestry  bear  abundant  witness : 

When  we  recall  his  usefulness  and  fidelity,  in  all  the  relations  which  he 
filled  in  his  connection  with  St.  George's  Church,  for  many  years  past,  his 
imexpeeted  departure  is  to  us  as  a  vestry,  and  as  individuals,  a  cause  of 
sincere  grief,  making  an  important  vacancy  in  our  number,  which  few  can 
fill  with  equal  usefulness  and  acceptance.  While  we  mourn  his  departure, 
we  bear  our  gi'ateful  testimonj'  to  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  his  Christian 
character,  as  he  has  gone  in  and  out  among  us,  always  proving  himself 
a  steadfast  and  faithful  friend,  a  man  of  peace  and  kindness,  and  an 
example  of  conscientious  fidelity  in  duty,  and  of  candour  and  gentleness  in 
his  judgments  and  feelings  towards  those  who  were  connected  with  him, 
a  lover  of  the  truth  and  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and  a  consistent  professor 
of  its  principles  and  commands. 

Within  a  month  after  the  decease  of  Mr.  Arcularius,  who  had  been 
a  loyal  and  devoted  friend  to  the  rector,  and  whose  loss  he  keenly 
felt,  Dr.  Tyng  was  called  to  bear  the  overwhelming  sorrow  of  the 
untimely  death  of  his  first-born,  the  singularly  gifted  and  eloquent 
Dudley  Atkins  Tyng,  who  had  been  his  father's  first  assistant  in 
St.  George's  and  who,  at  the  time  of  his  lamented  death,  was  rector 
of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  in  Philadelphia.  His  love,  his  pride, 
his  hope,  were  largely  centered  in  that  son.  The  circumstances  of 
his  taking  off,  as  the  result  of  a  distressing  accident,  were  deeply 
afflicting.  But  from  his  death-bed  came  that  rallying  cry  of  Gospel 
faith,  "  Stand  up  for  Jesus,"  ere  that  young  consecrated  life,  so 
full  of  promise  for  the  Master's  cause,  passed  to  the  higher  sphere. 
The  father's  grief  was  agonizing,  but  through  grace  he  acquiesced 
in  the  afflictive  dispensation  of  God's  will.  Letters  of  touching 
sympathy  poured  in  upon  him.  He  had  arranged  to  spend  that  very 
Sunday  with  his  son,  April  28th,  in  which  he  was  now  called  to 
speak  commemorative  words  of  him  to  the  bereaved  flock  of  the 
church  in  Philadelphia  and  mingle  his  grief  with  theirs. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Heman  Dyer,  who  since  1854  had  served  as  Dr. 
Tyng's  assistant,  felt  obliged  by  the  accumulating  pressure  of  other 
duties  to  sever  that  relation  in  February,  1859.  The  vestry  accepted 
his  resignation  with  most  sincere  regret  and  with  "  the  highest 
opinion  of  the  integrity,  purity,  and  holiness  of  character  which 
have  distinguished  Dr.  Dyer  in  all  his  personal  and  official  rela- 
tions."   The  intimacy  he  sustained  with  Dr.  Tyng  until  the  latter 's 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  209 

death,  together  with  his  signal  astuteness  in  judging  character,  make 
valuable  indeed  these  reminiscences  of  him  which  he  embodies  in 
his  own  Records  of  an  Active  Life: 

For  five  years  I  was  the  assistant  at  St.  George's,  During  six  or  seven 
months  of  one  of  these  years  Dr.  Tyng  was  absent  in  Europe,  when  I  was 
alone  in  charge  of  the  church. 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  saying  that  my  connection  with  St.  George's, 
and  my  relations  to  Dr.  Tyng,  to  the  vestry,  and  the  congregation  were  of 
the  pleasantest  character.  I  found  the  Doctor  always  considerate,  obliging, 
and  accommodating.  He  was  rigidly  exact  and  methodical,  as  well  as 
prompt  and  energetic,  in  the  administration  of  affairs.  His  cares  and  re- 
sponsibilities were  immense. 

The  great  church,  accommodating  two  thousand  people  and  more,  was 
crowded.  The  Sunday-schools  and  Bible  classes  numbered  between  one 
and  two  thousand.  And  yet  to  all  this  work  he  gave  a  personal  super- 
vision. He  knew  every  teacher,  and  could  call  nearly  every  child  by  name. 
His  administrative  abilities  were  simply  marvellous.  But  in  all  this  work, 
he  was  never  in  a  burrj'.  From  his  Sunday-schools  and  Bible  classes  he 
would  come  into  the  vestry  room,  robe  himself,  and  prepare  for  the  services 
with  the  utmost  deliberation.  He  could  not  tolerate  a  fidgety  or  fussy 
person.  The  sexton  knew  his  place  and  kept  it.  He  was  never  obsequious, 
never  obtrusive;  but  simply  respectful,  attentive,  and  on  time.  He  knew 
better  than  to  volunteer  to  do  things,  but  followed  with  exactness  the 
prescribed  rules.  Upon  the  instant,  he  opened  the  door  for  the  officiating 
clergy  to  pass  into  the  church,  and  this  was  a  signal  for  many  of  the 
gentlemen  to  take  out  their  watches  to  see  if  they  were  right.  They  well 
knew  that  if  there  was  correct  time  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  city,  it 
would  be  at  St.  George's. 

The  church  was  crowded  to  excess.  It  came  to  be  a  common  thing  to 
have  all  the  spaces  around  the  chancel  completely  filled  every  Sunday, 
and  not  unfrequently  many  had  to  stand  during  the  entire  service.  Of 
course  many  of  these  were  strangers,  so  that  each  Sunday,  beside  his  own 
congregation  proper,  the  Doctor  preached  to  hundreds  of  strangers  from 
all  parts  of  the  country.  It  was  indeed  one  of  the  things  for  a  visitor 
to  do,  on  coming  to  the  city,  to  attend  St.  George's  and  hear  Dr.  Tyng 
preach. 

The  more  I  was  with  Dr.  Tyng,  the  more  could  I  understand  the  devotion 
of  his  people,  and  particularly  that  of  the  teachers  and  cliildren  of  his 
Sunday-schools  to  him.  They  almost  idolized  him;  and  well  there  might 
be  this  devotion,  for  he  never  wearied  in  his  devotion  to  them.  In  sick- 
ness and  in  trouble,  he  was  promj^tly  with  them,  and  untiring  in  his  min- 
istrations for  their  good. 

The  Anniversaries  of  his  Sunday-schools  and  the  offerings  there  made 
by  the  various  classes,  and  all  the  services  connected  with  them,  became 
a  matter  of  public  interest,  and  drew  immense  crowds.  During  this  period, 
the  offerings  of  the  Sunday-schools,  and  of  the  congregation  generally, 
for  benevolent  and  Christian  objects,  were  much  larger  than  those  of  any 
other  Episcopal  church  in  the  country,  so  that  the  influence  of  Dr.  Tyng, 
and  of  St.  George's,  throughout  the  country  was  very  great,  and  was 
freely  admitted  by  all  fair-minded  people,  though  there  were  some  who 
never  liked  to  speak  kindly  or  peaceably  of  him. 
14 


210  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

On  one  occasion,  a  clergyman  from  another  diocese  was  in  one  of  our 
book-stores,  the  proprietor  of  which  was  an  old-fashioned  High  Church- 
man, when  something  in  the  conversation  led  the  bookseller  to  mention  the 
name  of  Dr.  Tyng.  Instantly  this  clergyman  commenced  a  tirade  against 
him,  and  after  blowing  out  for  a  while,  he  closed  by  saying  that  he  '  wished 
he  would  leave  the  Church;  he  was  no  Chiu'chman,  and  he  did  the  Church 
nothing  but  harm.' 

My  old  friend,  who  was  usually  very  calm  and  very  courteous,  was 
thoroughly  annoyed  by  this  onslaught  and  responded :  '  That  may  be  your 
opinion ;  but  I  tell  you  it  is  not  my  opinion,  nor  the  opinion  of  those  who 
know  Dr.  Tyng.  If  you  take  the  whole  of  ,'  here  naming  the  clergy- 
man's diocese,  '  all  its  clergy,  and  all  its  congregations,  and  put  them  to- 
gether, you  could  not  begin  to  make  one  St.  George's.' 

On  another  occasion.  Bishop  Whittingham  was  dining  at  the  house  of  a 
friend  of  mine,  and  there  were  present  two  or  three  young  clergymen,  who 
thought,  perhaps,  they  might  gain  a  little  favor  with  the  old  bishop  by 
making  some  disparaging  remarks  about  Dr.  Tyng;  and  so  they  expressed 
the  opinion  that  he,  and  all  such  men,  did  much  harm,  and  that  it  would 
be  better  for  the  Church  if  they  would  leave  it.  The  bishop  kept  silent 
till  they  were  through,  and  then  quietly  remarked:  'Young  gentlemen,  you 
are  much  mistaken.  I  have  known  Dr.  Tyng  long  and  well.  I  do  not  agree 
with  him  in  many  things:  but  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  he  has  done 
a  great  work,  and  brought  more  people  into  our  Church  than  any  clergy- 
man in  it.'    After  this,  the  yoimg  men  had  nothing  more  to  say. 

One  day  I  was  walking  with  Bishop  Wainwright,  and  as  we  came  into 
Second  Avenue  near  Sixteenth  Street,  we  turned  around,  and  there  stood 
St.  George's  in  all  its  gi-andeur.  The  bishop  stood  for  a  minute,  and  said 
nothing;  and  then  lifting  up  both  hands  he  said,  in  the  most  solemn  manner: 
'  I  bless  God  for  St.  George's !  It  is  doing  a  wonderful  work.  I  wish  we 
had  twenty  such  churches.' 

It  is  not  probably  generally  known,  that  during  his  last  days.  Bishop 
Onderdonk  of  New  York,  attended  the  services  at  St.  George's  and  the 
ministrations  of  Dr.  Tyng.  In  the  popular  mind  Dr.  Tyng  was  always  re- 
garded as  a  Low  Churchman,  and  so  in  the  popular  sense,  he  was,  but 
he  was  a  very  decided  Churchman,  as  his  father.  Judge  Tyng,  was  before 
him.  Few  know,  perhaps,  that  his  father  was,  while  on  the  bench,  asked 
to  receive  orders,  that  he  might  be  made  Bishop  of  Massachusetts. 

I  heard  Bishop  Mcllvaine  remark  once,  that  Dr.  Tyng  said  but  little 
about  his  ehurchmanship,  though  he  had  a  good  deal  of  it.  "When  the 
Church  was  attacked,  he  was  like  a  thermometer  plunged  in  boiling  water^ 
shooting  at  once  up  to  the  highest  point.  So  he  was,  in  all  his  connections, 
tastes,  and  habits,  a  thorough  Churchman. 

"When  I  was  with  him,  it  was  liis  custom,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  bishop 
visiting  his  church  for  confirmation,  always  to  say  to  the  bishop  when 
he  arrived :  *  I  hand  the  church  over  to  you  as  the  chief  pastor  for  this 
occasion.  Please  arrange  the  services  as  you  wish  to  have  them.'  But  no 
man  was  ever  quicker  to  oppose  any  unlawful  assumptions  of  power,  or 
any  infractions  of  the  rights  of  tlie  clergy  by  the  bishop,  than  he  was. 

Another  characterization  of  Dr.  Tyng  which  Dr.  Dyer  gives  in 
his  Preachers  and  Preaching  in  America  may  well  be  added  here: 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  211 

As  a  preacher,  Dr.  Tyng  stands  among  the  foremost  in  America.  He 
speaks  without  notes;  has  a  wonderful  memory,  and  an  almost  unlimited 
command  of  language  and  illustration.  His  views  of  gospel  truth  are  clear 
and  distinct,  and  in  the  pulpit  he  is  always  solemn,  earnest,  and  impressive. 
He  confines  himself  strictly  to  preaching  the  gospel,  never  allowing  himself 
to  be  diverted  by  outside  influences  from  this  one  great  object.  His  in- 
structions are  sought  by  multitudes  who  do  not  belong  to  his  Church,  and 
his  own  people  place  them  above  all  price.  No  man  is  more  beloved  than 
Dr.  Tyng  is  by  his  own  flock.  The  children  and  the  youth  almost  idolize 
him.  As  a  platform  speaker  Dr.  Tyng  is  unrivalled.  The  less  prepared, 
the  more  wonderful  apparently  he  is.  Some  of  his  impromptu  addresses 
reach  the  highest  style  of  elocjuence.  They  seem  like  inspiration.  He  is 
grand,  severe,  argiimentative,  and  playful,  as  occasion  may  recjuire.  His 
form  is  slight,  his  presence  commanding,  his  actions  graceful,  and  his  voice 
clear  and  penetrating.  Everybody  hears  him,  and  everybody  understands 
him.  He  is  never  so  great  as  when  his  indignation  is  kindled.  Then  the 
lightnings  flash  and  the  thunderbolts  are  hurled  in  every  direction,  and 
woe  to  the  man  who  gets  in  the  way.  But  he  is  never  so  happy  as  when, 
in  gentle  mood,  he  tells  of  Jesus  and  His  great  salvation.  As  age  draws 
on,  he  seems  more  and  more  inclined  to  withdraw  from  everything  else 
and  devote  himself  to  his  own  people.  Among  them  he  is  perfectly  known 
and  understood,  and  with  them  he  is  happy.     Such  is  Dr.  Tyng. 

Upon  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Dyer,  the  rector  was  empowered  to 
procure  such  assistance  as  he  might  require  in  the  services  of  the 
church,  and  the  policy  was  inaugurated  of  taking  young  clergy- 
men as  assistants  who  preferably  had  been  educated  for  the  sacred 
ministry  under  the  guidance  of  the  rector  of  St.  George's.  The 
first  of  these  was  the  Rev.  Wilbur  F.  Paddock,  who  formerly  had 
been  a  member  of  the  choir,  who  entered  on  his  duties  July  1,  1859, 
and  continued  to  serve  until  April  22,  1860,  when  he  became  rector 
of  St.  Paul's,  Cleveland.  The  Rev.  James  E.  Homans  was  his 
successor  from  July  1,  1860,  remaining  in  that  relation  until  May 
1,  1861.  The  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  succeeded  him  until  May, 
1862,  when  he  resigned  to  become  rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Mediator  in  New  York. 

Information  having  been  received  that  old  St.  George 's  Church  in 
Beekman  Street  was  about  to  be  permanently  closed,  a  special  meet- 
ing of  the  vestry  was  called  for  July  5,  1860,  to  consider  the  matter. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  by  the  Articles  of  Agreement  entered 
into  between  Trinity  Church  and  St.  George's  in  November,  1850, 
the  old  church  in  Beekman  Street  was  conveyed  to  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Evangelists,  to  be  maintained  as  a  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  under  the  guarantee  of  Trinity  that  it  should  not  be  used 
in  any  other  way  without  the  written  consent  of  St.  George's  Cor- 


212  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

poration.  Services  had  accordingly  been  maintained  therein  for 
some  ten  years  by  the  liberal  assistance  of  Trinity  Church.  But 
now  the  vestry  of  the  Holy  Evangelists,  in  January,  1860,  requested 
Trinity  Church  "  to  consider  the  expediency  and  practicability  of 
selling  St.  George's  Chapel  and  using  the  proceeds  for  church  pur- 
poses elsewhere."  Trinity  Church  having  refused  to  entertain  this 
idea,  the  vestry  of  the  Holy  Evangelists,  although  receiving  regu- 
larly from  Trinity  an  annual  allowance  of  $2,500,  demanded  that 
this  should  be  increased  to  $6,000,  and  declared  that  "  unless  an 
arrangement  satisfactory  to  them  were  made  for  the  support  of 
this  parish,  they  were  contemplating  a  discontinuance  of  Divine 
Service  in  St.  George's."  A  committee  of  Trinity  Church  gave  the 
whole  subject  of  their  relations  to  the  corporation,  which  was  now 
using  St.  George's  Chapel,  a  careful  consideration,  and  on  June 
4,  1860,  presented  a  full  report,  detailing  the  unreasonableness  of 
their  demands,  the  incompetence  of  their  rector  for  the  duties  of 
his  position,  and  their  violation  of  the  agreement  between  the 
Churches  in  his  election,  and  suggesting  that  the  limit  had  been 
reached  in  what  could  be  done  to  assist  the  corporation  of  the  Holy 
Evangelists. 

It  was  this  situation  which  incited  St.  George's  vestry  to  the 
action  above  referred  to,  and  a  committee  was  empowered  to  take 
such  cognizance  of  the  situation  as  might  be  demanded  and  act  ac- 
cordingly. The  vestry  of  Trinity,  however,  made  new  and  adequate 
provision  for  the  maintenance  of  the  services  in  old  St.  George's. 
Having  found  that  further  arrangements  with  the  corporation  of 
the  Holy  Evangelists  were  impracticable,  that  corporation  was  al- 
lowed to  go  out  of  existence,  and  a  Board  of  Trustees  was  constituted 
to  carry  on  the  work  after  December  1,  1860,  under  the  name  of 
the  Free  Church  of  St.  George's  Chapel.  The  major  part  of  the 
parishioners  and  communicants  of  the  Holy  Evangelists  identified 
themselves  with  the  new  organization,  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the 
Eev.  Sylvanus  Reed,  whose  support  was  provided  chiefly  by  Trinity 
Church.  The  final  disposition  of  the  old  building  may  well  be  noted 
here. 

The  vestry  of  St.  George's  Church  in  February,  1863,  received  a 
communication  from  Edward  M.  Young,  chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Free  Church  of  St.  George's  Chapel,  asking  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  confer  with  them,  in  regard  to  its 
present  condition  and  future  prospects,  with  a  view  to  the  removal 
of  the  mission  to  some  other  quarter  of  the  city.  In  response  to  this 
communication,  the  vestry  of  St.  George's  expressed  its  readiness  to 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  213 

receive  and  consider  any  distinct  proposition  which  the  trustees 
might  desire  to  offer.  The  trustees  accordingly,  April  22d,  trans- 
mitted to  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church  the  expression  of  their  full 
conviction 

that  the  maintenance  of  services  and  parish  organization  for  the  Free 
Church  of  St.  George's  Chapel  in  its  present  location  does  and  must  con- 
tinue to  involve  an  expense  entirely  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  good  that  can  be  accomplished,  and  the  trustees  believing  that  by  dispos- 
ing of  the  ground  and  using  the  proceeds  for  the  establishment  of  one 
or  more  missions  on  the  east  side  of  the  city  further  up-town,  much  more 
satisfactory  results  may  be  produced.  The  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church 
is  therefore  most  respectfully  requested  to  appoint  a  committee  who  shall 
have  power  in  conjunction  with  the  board  of  trustees  to  arrange  with  the 
vesti-y  of  St.  George's  Church  for  the  removal  of  any  restrictions  that  may 
now  exist  which  prevent  a  sale  of  the  jDroperty. 

The  vestry  of  Trinity  at  once  transmitted  this  communication  to 
St.  George's  Church,  with  a  request  that  the  requisite  committee 
be  appointed;  to  which  request  St.  George's  promptly  acceded,  and 
empowered  Messrs.  Lawrence,  Tracy,  Pyne,  Haines,  and  Jenkins  to 
make  a  final  settlement  of  all  the  questions  connected  with  the 
alienation  of  the  property  of  old  St.  George's  in  Beekman  Street. 
Among  the  directions  given  from  time  to  time  to  its  committee  was 
one  charging  them  to  take  due  order  and  care  for  the  proper  re- 
moval of  the  remains  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor  from  the  vault  beneath 
the  chancel  in  which  they  had  been  interred  by  the  direction  of  the 
vestry. 

The  negotiations  which  ensued  were  complex  and  prolonged,  but 
the  final  result  was  embodied  in  the  report  made  by  its  committee 
to  the  vestry,  May  14,  1868.  The  settlement  was  in  pursuance  of 
an  agreement  with  the  Corporation  of  Trinity,  by  which  the  prop- 
erty should  be  sold,  and  one-fourth  of  the  net  proceeds  be  paid  to 
St.  George's  and  three-fourths  to  be  at  the  disposition  of  Trinity; 
the  mortgage  held  by  Trinity  on  the  property  of  St.  George's  Stuy- 
vesant  Square  to  be  cancelled  and  a  deed  of  release  to  be  executed, 
extinguishing  all  claims  of  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church 
against  St.  George's,  as  well  under  the  mortgage  as  under  the  Arti- 
cles of  Agreement  executed  at  the  time  of  the  earlier  settlement 
on  November  30,  1850.  To  carry  out  this  agreement,  title  to  the 
property  was  secured  under  a  foreclosure  of  the  mortgage  upon  it 
executed  by  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Evangelists  to  Trinity  Church, 
when  St.  George's  conveyed  it  to  that  Corporation  under  the  original 
agreement  of  1850.  The  title  now  vested  in  three  trustees,  Samuel  / 
T.  Skidmore  and  John  J.   Cisco  representing  Trinity,  and  Percy 


214  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

R.  Pyne  representing  St.  George's.  By  them  it  was  conveyed  to  the 
firm 'of  Phelps,  Dodge,  &  Company  for  $145,000,  St.  George's  re- 
ceived $30,618.67,  with  a  contingent  interest  of  twenty-five  per  cent. 
in  a  reserved  fund  of  $5,000,  which  was  to  be  held  for  five  years  by 
the  purchaser  as  indemnity  against  possible  claims  of  vault-owners. 
The  organ  and  the  bell  were  also  delivered  to  St.  George's,  and 
the  other  movable  property  was  conceded  to  other  parties;  and  the 
passing  of  the  venerable  structure,  which  had  nobly  served  its  pur- 
pose, but  outlived  its  usefulness,  was  an  accomplished  fact.  In  this 
final  settlement  the  relations  involving  property  questions,  which 
had  so  long  continued  between  Trinity  Church  and  St.  George's, 
were  happily  and  forever  closed. 

The  period  of  Dr.  Tyng's  ministry  covers  that  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  American  Church  when  party  feeling  was  intensest, 
uncharitable  judgment  of  opponents  was  the  bitterest,  and  polemic 
strife  most  acrimonious. 

The  development  of  evangelical  principles,  which  had  helped  to 
overcome  the  spiritual  indifference  and  laxity  which  was  too  char- 
acteristic of  the  Church  in  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  times, 
had  been  both  rapid  and  widespread.  The  "  doctrines  of  grace," 
as  they  were  called,  involving  a  profound  sense  of  personal  sin, 
the  necessity  of  a  Divine  Saviour  and  the  experience  of  conversion 
by  the  Divine  Spirit,  were  powerfully  preached  and  largely  accepted. 
With  the  proclamation  of  this  simple  gospel  came  adherence  to 
the  voluntary  principle  in  worship  and  in  giving,  which  meant  the 
liberty  of  extemporaneous  prayer  as  supplemental  to  the  prescribed 
and  regular  use  of  the  Prayer  Book  and  of  giving  to  such  objects 
and  through  such  channels  as  commended  themselves  to  the  giver. 
But  there  were  others  who  laid  special  stress  upon  the  Apostolic 
Order  of  the  Church  and  her  objective  Sacraments,  and  who  con- 
demned the  prayer-meetings  and  the  practice  of  co-operation  with 
other  Christians  in  the  support  of  union  societies.  And  so  it  came 
to  be  that  party  lines  were  sharply  drawn  and  troublous  times 
began. 

It  was  the  birth  year  of  St.  George's  Church  in  which  two  repre- 
sentatives of  these  divergent  schools  of  thought  were  consecrated 
bishops  at  the  same  time  and  place,  Alexander  Viets  Griswold  and 
John  Henry  Hobart,  Llay  29,  1811,  in  Trinity  Church,  New  York. 
The  former  was  a  man  of  saintly  character,  of  self-denying  and 
abundant  labors,  who  stood  for  evangelical  religion  in  the  New 
England  Diocese,  as  Richard  Channing  Moore,  whose  consecration 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  215 

dated  three  years  later,  stood  for  them  in  Virginia.  But  Bishop 
Hobart  was  a  man  of  greater  intellectual  force  and  marked  ag- 
gressiveness in  the  maintenance  of  his  views.  He  sturdily  main- 
tained with  no  uncertain  sound  and  an  untiring  industry,  distinctive 
teaching  as  to  Church  and  Sacraments;  and  no  man  made  a  larger 
contribution  to  the  education  of  the  Church,  or  to  the  crystallization 
within  it  of  views  now  generally  accepted,  or  did  more  in  his  time 
to  awaken  in  the  Church  a  self-consciousness  of  her  mission  in  this 
land  and  an  aggressive  spirit  to  assert  lierself  for  Christ. 

The  Church  was  at  this  period  in  the  throes  of  evolution.  The 
Evangelical  and  the  High-churchman  had  each  something  of  greatest 
value  to  contribute  to  this  process,  but  the  result  was  not  evolved 
without  much  controversial  strife.  The  controversies  of  that  day 
with  all  their  bitterness  have  long  since  passed  away,  and  from  them 
has  emerged  the  recognition  of  the  right  to  differ  and  yet  live  in 
loving  unity  as  brethren  in  the  one  Household  of  the  Faith.  The 
dawn  of  the  great  change  in  tone  and  temper  began  to  be  apparent 
at  Baltimore  in  1871.  As  Bishop  Perry  writes:  "  The  keynote  of 
a  loving  unity  was  sounded  from  the  lips  of  the  aged  Bishop  of 
Virginia  at  the  opening  of  the  memorable  Convention  of  1871,  and 
his  message  of  love  was  echoed  by  the  presence  and  noble  words  of 
the  Apostolic  Selwyn,  whose  presence  in  a  day  of  controversy  was  a 
benediction  of  peace."  The  word  ^'  regenerate  "  had  been  defined 
by  the  bishops  in  council  as  "  not  so  used  as  to  determine  that  a 
moral  change  in  the  subject  of  baptism  is  wrought  by  the  sacra- 
ment ' ' ;  and  quieting  action  was  had  as  to  the  ritual  question,  which 
had  come  to  be  crucial.  But  it  was  several  years  before  asperities 
were  really  softened  and  partisanship  subordinated  in  the  united 
progress  of  the  Church. 

Dr.  Tyng's  entrance  upon  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's  was  at 
-a  time  when  controversy  in  the  Church  at  large  was  raging,  and 
the  Diocese  of  New  York  was  rent  by  rival  factions.  In  his  Phila- 
delphia environment  he  had  been  an  acknowledged  leader  among 
the  Evangelicals,  and  in  his  first  sermon  in  St.  George 's  he  ringingly 
enunciated  the  principles  for  which  he  and  his  party  stood.  The 
congregation  had  always  loyally  supported  his  predecessor.  Dr. 
Milnor,  in  his  pronounced  and  able  maintenance  of  the  evangelical 
position.  So  from  the  very  first  up  to  the  close  of  Dr.  Tyng's  min- 
istry, St.  George's  vestry  and  people  steadfastly  upheld  their  rector 
by  their  sympathy  and  generous  confidence.  He  shaped  and  clari- 
fied their  views  of  truth,  and  they  in  turn,  by  the  prestige  and  in- 
fluence of  their  united  prosperous  parish,  afforded  him  a  powerful 


216  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

backing  in  the  controversial  attitude  which  he  from  time  to  time 
felt  forced  to  adopt. 

The  memorable  Convention  of  the  New  York  Diocese  in  1845  was 
that  in  which  as  rector  of  St.  George's  Dr.  Tyng  first  appeared. 
There  was  intense  partisan  feeling  and  much  excitement  and  dis- 
order. The  Bishop  of  New  York  had  been  suspended  in  the  pre- 
ceding January  after  trial  by  his  peers,  and  the  burning  question 
was  whether  the  diocese  was  vacant  and  the  way  open  for  a  new 
episcopal  election.  The  friends  of  the  suspended  bishop  insisted 
that  his  restoration  was  possible  and  should  be  canonically  provided 
for,  while  Dr.  Tyng  maintained  with  earnestness  and  force  that  the 
action  of  the  bishops  in  decreeing  his  indefinite  suspension  had 
vacated  the  position.  Discussions  of  the  subject  in  and  out  of  the 
Convention  were  attended  with  much  bitterness,  and  though  the 
present  outcome  was  postponement  of  action  till  the  following  year, 
the  Diocese  was  rent  by  partisan  commotion.  It  was  not  until  1852, 
alter  the  action  of  the  General  Convention  had  made  it  possible, 
that  a  Provisional  Bishop  of  New  York  was  elected  in  the  person 
of  Dr.  Jonathan  M.  Wainwright — a  choice  which  proved  as  gen- 
erally acceptable  as  could  have  been  expected. 

In  the  Convention  of  1885,  the  necessity  of  an  increase  of  the 
Episcopal  Fund  assumed  a  large  importance.  Bishop  Wainwright 
had  died  in  September,  1854,  and  Dr.  Horatio  Potter  had  been 
consecrated  Provisional  Bishop  in  his  place  in  November  of  the 
same  year.  The  suspended  Bishop  Onderdonk,  however,  was  still 
in  receipt  of  income  from  the  Fund.  The  vestry  of  Trinity 
Church  proposed  to  give  its  bond  for  $20,000  on  condition  that 
the  other  parishes  of  the  diocese  should  raise  $50,000  within 
a  specified  time.  Of  this  offer  there  was  abundant  criticism, 
in  which  the  rector  of  St.  George's  prominently  shared,  on  the 
part  of  those  who  maintained  that  the  large  property  of  Trinity 
Corporation  was  a  trust  whose  income  should  be  applied  more  largely 
for  the  Church's  benefit  outside  the  parish.  The  rector  of  Trinity 
issued  in  defense  of  the  Corporation  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Facts 
against  Fancy,"  to  which  the  Hon.  William  Jay  emphatically  re- 
plied in  a  "  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Wm.  Berrian,  D.D.,  on  the  Re- 
sources, Present  Position  and  Duty  of  Trinity  Church,  occasioned 
by  his  late  Pamphlet."  The  rector  of  St.  George's  made  a  further 
answer  in  a  series  of  letters  first  issued  in  The  Protestant  Church- 
man and  subsequently  published  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  The 
Rector  Rectified."  In  the  final  letter  of  this  series  he  retorts  upon 
the  rector  of  Trinity  on  the  point  of  the  comparison  which  the  latter 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  217 

had  instituted  between  the  beneficence  of  Trinity  Church  and  that 
of  St.  Mark's,  St.  George's,  and  Grace  Church,  which  represented  a 
different  style  of  Churchmanship  and  whose  rectors  had  been  promi- 
nent in  criticism  of  the  policy  of  Trinity.  Dr.  Berrian  had  alluded 
to  this  difference,  as  he  claimed  for  Trinity  as  her  peculiar  char- 
acteristic and  one  great  cause  of  all  the  obloquy  she  suffered,  "  the 
entertainment  of  sound  Church  principles  and  the  manful  mainte- 
nance of  them  at  all  times  through  good  and  evil  report."  The 
rector  of  St.  George's  met  the  challenge  by  simply  quoting  figures 
from  the  diocesan  journals  for  a  period  of  eleven  years,  showing 
that  Trinity  with  her  two  chapels,  St.  Paul's  and  St.  John's,  had 
given  during  that  time  $28,728,  while  the  benevolent  contributions 
of  St.  Mark's  for  the  same  period  had  been  about  equal  to  those 
of  the  three  congregations  of  Trinity  parish,  $28,500,  and  those  o£ 
St.  George's  had  amounted  to  $58,666,  or  more  than  twice  as  much. 
He  further,  from  the  reports  of  the  Board  of  Missions,  showed  that 
the  contributions  to  missions  for  a  similar  period  of  eleven  years, 
from  Trinity  parish  had  been  $4,551.95,  from  St.  Mark's  a  little 
more,  $4,803.26,  and  from  St.  George's  $19,455.36,  or  more  than  four 
times  as  much.  Continuing  the  comparison  between  St.  George's 
and  Trinity,  to  show  to  what  extent  each  had  become  "  a  boon,  a 
blessing,  a  relief  to  others,"  employing  the  expression  Dr.  Berrian 
had  used  as  not  applicable  to  St.  George's  use  of  her  revenues,  Dr. 
Tyng  from  statistics  in  the  Journal  of  the  preceding  year  contrasts 
St.  George 's  with  one  congregation,  one  minister,  833  communicants, 
93  teachers,  and  1,586  scholars  in  its  Sunday-schools,  and  Trinity, 
with  three  congregations,  9  ministers,  800  communicants,  and  no 
Sunday-schools  reported.  St.  George's  benevolent  contributions 
from  the  one  congregation  were  $16,039  for  the  one  year,  while 
Trinity's  benevolent  contributions  from  its  three  congregations  was 
$6,311.55.    And  he  goes  on  to  say: 

These  results  are  a  fair  estimate  of  the  relative  usefulness  of  the  two 
establishments  as  they  stand,  and  may  be  received  as  a  fair  practical  demon- 
stration of  the  '  sound  Church  principles,'  which  are  assumed  to  distinguish 
the  one,  and  of  the  '  Evangelical  principles '  which  are  known  to  char- 
acterize the  other. 

"With  the  three  Evangelical  Societies,  so  called,  St.  George's  was 
closely  identified  from  the  time  of  their  organization.  The  first 
of  these  was  the  ' '  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Evangelical  Knowl- 
edge," which  was  established  in  1847,  to  counteract  the  influence 
of  the  Oxford  Tracts  and  allied  literature.     Its  object,  as  declared 


218  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

by  its  constitution,  was  "  to  maintain  and  set  forth  the  principles 
and  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  embodied  in  the  articles,  liturgy,  and 
homilies  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  by  the  publication 
of  tracts,  Sunday-school  and  other  books."  Bishop  Meade,  of  Vir- 
ginia, was  its  first  president  and  Dr.  John  S.  Stone,  of  Brooklyn,  its 
first  general  secretary.  During  the  General  Convention  of  October, 
1853,  the  second  triennial  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  in  St. 
George's  Church,  on  which  occasion  Dr.  Tyng  preached  an  eloquent 
and  impressive  sermon  to  a  crowded  congregation.  In  1858,  an 
edition  of  the  Prayer  Book  was  issued  and  sold  at  ten  cents  each, 
of  which  within  four  years  105,982  were  distributed.  A  handsome 
octavo  edition  and  one  of  medium  size  were  also  published,  so  that 
within  ten  years  many  times  more  copies  of  the  Service  Book  of  the 
Church  were  put  in  circulation  than  by  all  the  Prayer  Book  societies 
in  the  country,  thus  demonstrating  the  loyalty  of  the  supporters  of 
the  Society  to  the  doctrine  and  worship  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer. 

The  American  Church  Missionary  Society  was  organized  in  1859, 
in  the  Church  of  the  Ascension,  New  York.  There  had  been  grow- 
ing dissatisfaction  with  the  management  of  the  Board  of  Missions, 
by  which  the  evangelical  parishes  which  contributed  the  larger  share 
of  the  missionary  money  were  compelled  to  see  their  contributions 
used  in  support  of  missionaries  who  were  spreading  throughout  the 
field  of  the  great  "West  doctrines  and  practices  to  which  they  were 
strenuously  and  conscientiously  opposed.  Many  of  the  leading 
Evaneglicals  were  extremely  reluctant  to  organize  a  separate  so- 
ciety and  the  matter  was  earnestly  debated  for  four  or  five  years, 
until  the  partisanship  of  the  dominant  element  in  the  General 
Convention  of  1859  divided  the  remaining  missionary  field  of  the 
West  between  two  newly  elected  bishops  of  the  same  class  of  Church 
views, — and  the  organization  of  the  American  Church  Missionary 
Society  was  resolved  upon.  The  rector  of  St.  George's  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  executive  committee. 

At  the  first  annual  meeting,  which  was  held  in  St.  George's  Church, 
October  24,  1860,  Dr.  Tyng  presented  the  report  of  that  committee, 
some  of  whose  closing  paragraphs  will  be  of  interest  as  vindicating 
and  explaining  the  purpose  of  the  Society : 

This  is  a  society  founded  upon  distinct  and  distinctl_y  adopted  principles. 
The  two  rival  schemes  of  mere  Ritualism  and  of  Evangelical  truth,  the  one 
leading  to  a  satisfaction  with  the  form  and  the  letter,  and  the  other  leading 
to  a  spiritual  and  intelligent  embracing  and  maintenance  of  the  gospel  in 
the  spirit,   as  these  two   schemes   are   seen   contending  in   the   Episcopal 


THE     TYXG    PERIOD  219 

Church,  are  wholly  inconsistent  with  each  other.  The  necessity  of  the 
defence  of  the  gospel  in  our  Church,  led,  thirteen  years  ago,  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Evangelical  Knowledge  Society,  to  maintain  its  all-important 
truths  by  the  press.  Well  would  it  have  been  for  us,  if,  instead  of  delay- 
ing, under  the  solicitation  of  respected  and  beloved  individual  brethren, 
we  had  consummated  at  the  same  time,  as  many  desired  to  do,  a  society 
for  the  maintenance  of  these  gi-eat  principles  by  living  missionaries.  At 
last,  after  all  the  experiments  of  delay  and  concession  have  i^roved  un- 
availing, our  brethren  and  the  friends  of  Evangelical  truth  have  been 
constrained  to  assume  a  stand,  which,  if  taken  thirteen  years  ago,  would 
have  saved  large  sums  of  money,  expended  in  opposition  to  these  verj* 
truths,  and  occupied  large  tracts  of  ground  with  a  faithful  Evangelical 
ministry.  To  send  out  such  a  ministry,  and  such  a  ministiy  only,  is  the 
purpose  of  this  society,  not  a  ministry  merely  fortified  with  ecclesiastical 
certificates,  but  a  ministry'  known  and  certified  in  Evangelical  personal 
character.  This  distinguishing  puri:)ose  must  be  openly  avowed,  and  thor- 
oughly understood.  We  desire  to  find  Evangelical,  spiritual  men,  whose 
hearts  are  really  engaged  in  the  preaching  of  a  crucified  Saviour,  and  in 
saving  the  souls  of  their  fellow-men,  who  do  not  employ  themselves  in  the 
mere  preaching  of  the  Church  and  the  Sacraments,  but  truly  proclaim  the 
riches  of  pardoning  gi'ace  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  to  penitent  sinners;  who 
are  not  occui:)ied  in  the  maintenance  of  a  mere  sectarian  warfare,  in  ciying, 
*  The  Temple  of  the  Lord  are  we,'  but  desire  grace,  and  exercise  love  tow- 
ards all  those  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  who  are  not  satisfied  in  the 
mere  adding  to  the  numbers  of  an  outward  flock,  in  Baptism,  Confirmation, 
and  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  labor  that  sinners  may  be  converted  in  heart, 
born  again  of  the  Spirit,  and  made  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus;  who  do 
not  direct  sinners  to  a  Saviour  to  be  found  in  ordinances  and  outward 
foims,  but  to  a  Saviour  to  be  received  in  the  heart  by  faith,  and  embraced 
in  the  soul  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  assurance  of  a  lively 
and  blessed  hope;  who  do  not  jiroclaim  the  sinner's  justification  by  himian 
works,  or  ordinances  of  man's  observance,  but  by  the  glorious  righteousness 
of  Christ,  made  by  faith  in  Him,  the  robe  and  clothing  of  the  soul. 

For  this  great  work  of  spreading  the  Saviour's  gospel,  in  its  purity  and 
power,  by  a  faithful  Evangelical  ministiy,  over  a  large,  open,  and  unoc- 
cupied field,  we  are  here  united.  We  thus  plainly,  and  without  qualification, 
declare  our  principles  and  our  purposed  work.  And  convinced  that  we  are 
truly  on  tlie  Lord's  side,  and  in  the  Ijord's  service,  we  look  up  to  Him 
for  His  prospering  blessing,  and  to  our  friends  and  brethren  around,  for 
their  liberal  persevering  and  earnest  co-operation. 

The  Society  was  bitterly  denounced  by  a  portion  of  the  Church 
press,  but  it  gained  many  liberal  and  devoted  friends,  among  whom 
St.  George's  stood  pre-eminent  both  in  the  interest  of  its  individual 
parishioners  and  in  the  amount  O'f  its  contributions  to  the  Society's 
support. 

The  third  of  the  Evangelical  Societies  was  organized  in  Phila- 
delphia, with  Jay  Cooke  as  its  president,  in  1862.  It  owed  its  origin 
to  a  strong  feeling  that  the  Society  for  the  Increase  of  the  Ministry 


220  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

was  unduly  promoting  the  increase  of  one  ecclesiastical  type  of 
clergyman,  and  that  other  provision  must  be  made  to  insure  the 
education  of  evangelical  men.  The  Evangelical  Education  Society 
was  accordingly  organized  and  entered  upon  its  career  of  useful- 
ness. It  might  be  noted  as  bearing  on  this  matter  of  theological 
education  that  the  General  Seminary  was  at  this  time  completely 
dominated  by  the  High- Church  influence,  the  Alexandria  Seminary 
had  been  broken  up  by  the  war,  and  the  Philadelphia  Divinity 
School  came  logically  into  being  to  meet  a  pressing  need  under  the 
tactful,  wise,  and  efficient  administration  of  Bishop  Alonzo  Potter. 

At  the  present  time,  the  Evangelical  Knowledge  Society  no  longer 
publishes,  but  uses  the  income  of  its  endowment  to  provide  approved 
theological  books  for  the  younger  clergy.  The  American  Church 
Missionary  Society  became  an  Auxiliary  to  the  Board  of  Missions 
as  the  result  of  an  agreement  arrived  at  by  committees  representing 
the  two  organizations  in  October,  1877,  the  writer  of  this  history 
being  privileged  to  act  as  one  of  the  conferees  on  the  part  of  the 
Board  of  Missions.  The  Evangelical  Education  Society  still  aids 
young  men  in  preparation  for  the  ministry,  and  in  recent  years 
has  engaged  in  distributing  evangelical  literature. 

In  closing  these  references  to  controversial  matters,  it  may  be 
well  to  recall  that  it  was  as  the  result  of  the  Oxford  Movement 
that  party  lines  came  to  be  closely  drawn  and  polemic  bitterness 
became  intensest.  The  supporters  of  the  Tractarian  doctrines 
claimed  that  these  were  nothing  more  than  a  revival  of  the 
old  -  time  teaching  of  the  High  -  Church  Anglican  divines  on 
such  topics  as  the  Apostolical  Succession,  the  potency  and  obli- 
gation of  the  Sacraments,  the  Real  Presence  in  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, the  value  of  priestly  absolution,  and  the  like,  and  therefore 
that  these  doctrines  were  legitimately  to  be  held  and  taught 
within  the  Anglican  Communion.  On  the  other  hand,  this  whole 
doctrinal  scheme  was  vigorously  denounced  as  tending  directly  to 
un-Protestantize  the  Church  and  lead  to  Rome ;  and  when  John 
Henry  Newman,  the  leader  of  the  movement,  became  a  Romanist 
in  1845,  and  Bishop  Ives,  of  North  Carolina,  and  divers  of  the  clergy 
in  this  country  followed  him,  there  seemed  to  be  some  basis  for 
the  fear  expressed.  There  was  no  question  yet  of  ritual  observ- 
ance,— the  worship  of  the  Church  was  practically  uniform.  But 
while  both  parties  claimed  to  be  loyal  to  the  standards  of  the  Prayer 
Book  and  the  Church,  the  point  of  view  of  each  was  different;  and 
so  they  warred  in  factious  strife,  contending  earnestly  for  what 
indeed  was  in  the  main  essential  truth,  but  failing  to  appreciate 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  221 

the  vital  value  of  those  aspects  of  the  truth  stressed  by  their  brethren 
of  opposing  views.  The  Evangelical  contended  for  the  absolute  im- 
portance of  spiritual  experience,  the  individual  reception  of  grace, 
and  preaching  "  Jesus  only  ";  the  High  Churchman's  watchword 
v^as,  ' '  Hear  the  Church, ' '  exalting  its  authority,  but  from  the  stand- 
point that  the  church  is  verily  Christ's  Body  in  which  His  Spirit 
dwells  and  through  whose  sacraments  grace  is  communicated.  The 
one  accused  the  other  of  a  lack  of  vital  piety,  and  the  High  Church- 
man met  this  charge  with  the  retort  of  lack  of  loyal  Churchmanship. 
But  neither  had  monopoly  of  either  vital  piety  or  love  and  loyalty 
to  the  true  Church.  And  now  that  strife  on  the  old  lines  has  long 
since  died  away  it  is  quite  possible  to  realize  the  inestimable  value 
of  the  contributions  which  each  of  the  old  parties  of  those  times 
made  to  the  Church's  life,  which  parties  were  indeed  but  the  ex- 
ponents of  the  never-absent  subjective  and  objective  points  of  view 
which  influence  human  thought.  Both  builded  better  than  they 
knew. 

In  April,  1861,  the  vestry  *'  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
congregation  ' '  recommended  to  the  rector  a  voyage  of  travel  abroad 
for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  and  tendered  to  him  a  leave  of  absence 
until  October,  and  appropriated  $1,500  to  his  use  for  that  pur- 
pose. Within  a  week  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  on,  and  the  awful 
cloud  of  civil  war  darkened  the  land.  On  the  Sunday  following 
the  startling  intelligence,  the  rector  of  St.  George's  referred  to 
the  crisis  which  had  arisen  in  our  nation  and  government,  the  in- 
tense feeling  it  would  create,  the  temptation  which  would  present 
itself  to  the  clergy  to  bring  the  strifes  of  the  hour  into  the  pulpit, 
but  announced  his  determination  to  reserve  the  sacred  place  and 
time  for  the  exercise  of  his  paramount  duty,  to  preach  the  King- 
dom of  God,  fortifying  his  position  by  the  example  of  Archbishop 
Leighton,  who,  amid  the  convulsions  of  his  day  in  Scotland,  said 
when  reproached  for  holding  aloof  from  the  controversy,  "  While 
all  are  preaching  for  time,  let  one  poor  priest  preach  for  eternity." 
And  yet  his  loyalty  was  of  the  staunchest,  and  his  influence  in- 
flexibly exerted  in  support  of  the  national  authority  and  the  in- 
violability of  the  Union.  The  appointed  days  of  National  Fast  and 
Thanksgiving  afforded  him  ample  opportunity  for  the  public  ex- 
pression of  his  views,  and  his  patriotic  eloquence  gave  no  uncertain 
sound.  On  the  first  of  these  national  days  appointed  by  President 
Lincoln,  September  26,  1861,  he  preached  a  striking  sermon  at- 
tributing the  struggle  which  had  been  forced  upon  the  North  square- 


222  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

ly  to  the  slavery  question.  In  the  work  of  the  Christian  Commission, 
and  in  the  other  provision  for  the  care  and  comfort  of  the  men  at 
the  front,  he  took  the  deepest  interest,  while  his  loyal  congregation 
of  St.  George's,  largely  representative  of  the  wealth  and  influence 
of  the  city,  were  foremost  among  the  generous  contributors  to  this 
benevolent  and  Christian  work.  The  claims  of  the  destitute  and 
suffering  negroes  especially  appealed  to  him,  and  when  General 
Sherman  in  a  general  order  issued  February  6,  1862,  called  public 
attention  to  their  helpless  condition,  a  public  meeting  at  the  Cooper 
Union  was  held  February  20th,  and  steps  taken  to  organize  the 
"  National  Freedmen's  Eelief  Association,"  of  which  Dr.  Tyng  was 
elected  president,  and  to  the  arduous  duties  of  which  office  he  gave 
assiduous  and  laborious  attention.  His  views  upon  the  future  rights 
and  relations  of  the  Freedmen  were  trenchantly  expressed  in  com- 
munications to  The  Independent  during  1863.  The  uncompromising 
stand  assumed  by  Dr.  Tyng  attracted  wide  attention,  and  invita- 
tions to  speak  came  to  him  from  various  quarters.  One  from  Chi- 
cago, dated  November  11,  1862,  signed  by  many  of  its  most  promi- 
nent citizens,  voiced  this  desire  to  hear  him  thus :  ' '  The  undersigned 
citizens  of  Chicago,  having  observed  with  admiration  and  gratitude 
the  noble  position  that  you  have  taken  in  defense  of  the  nation  in 
her  struggles  against  a  fierce  and  powerful  foe,  are  desirous  of 
hearing  your  eloquent  voice  in  the  great  Northwest  on  the  vital 
questions  of  the  day."  Such  invitations,  however,  he  felt  impelled 
uniformly  to  decline.  His  Sunday  preaching  and  his  parish  work 
engrossed  his  energy  and  effort,  to  the  exclusion  of  such  other  speak- 
ing as  was  not  connected  with  some  of  the  institutions  or  benevo- 
lences with  which  he  was  identified. 

In  the  dark  days  of  1863  a  spirit  of  disloyalty  seemed  to  gain 
headway  in  the  North.  The  President  appointed  April  30th  as  a 
Day  of  Humiliation  and  Prayer.  The  rector  of  St.  George's 
preached  an  eloquent  discourse  on  Christian  Loyalty  from  the  ap- 
propriate opening  verses  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-seventh 
Psalm.  But  the  seditious  spirit  w^hich  voiced  denunciation  of  the 
government  for  its  alleged  illegal  acts  bore  fruit  in  the  draft  riots 
in  the  fall  of  1863,  which  terrified  the  people  of  New  York  and 
found  in  helpless  negroes  many  victims  of  mob  violence.  But  the 
end  came.  The  Union  was  maintained.  The  great  emancipator  was 
re-elected,  the  struggle  closed  at  Appomattox  April  9th,  the  Presi- 
dent appointed  April  20th  as  the  day  of  national  thanksgiving ;  but 
on  the  14th  he  was  martyred,  and  joy  was  turned  to  mourning  every- 
where throughout  the  land.    On  Easter  Sunday,  two  days  later,  the 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  223 

pulpit,  font,  and  reading-desk  in  St.  George's  were  draped  in  mourn- 
ing intertwined  with  the  triumphant  emblematic  flag  in  whose  de- 
fense so  much  inestimably  precious  blood  and  treasure  had  been 
freely  given.  But  reserving  the  lessons  which  the  drapery  suggested 
for  the  Thursday  following,  the  rector  preached  his  Easter  sermon. 
On  the  day  named,  however,  he  delivered  that  memorable  discourse 
on  "  Victory  and  Reunion  "  from  II.  Kings  6:21-22  in  which,  from 
the  story  of  the  text,  he  deduced  "  four  separate  facts,  very  re- 
markable and  to  our  present  purpose  most  appropriate :  I.  The  war- 
fare was  really  against  the  God  of  Israel.  II.  The  power  which 
prevailed  was  the  providence  of  God.  III.  The  victory  attained  was 
the  gift  of  God.  lY.  The  resulting  treatment  of  the  captives  was 
the  example  of  God." 

It  was  a  wonderful  conclusion  of  a  series  of  utterances  on  public 
days,  which  in  their  delivery  and  the  subsequent  publication  of 
some,  were  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  cause  of  human  liberty 
and  the  nation's  life. 

The  attitude  of  St.  George's  parish  toward  the  government  in 
those  trying  times  was  evidenced  by  their  successive  investment 
of  funds  in  government  securities,  beginning  at  a  time  when  it  took 
patriotic  spirit  and  faith  in  the  future  to  make  such  investments. 
For  as  far  back  as  April,  1862,  there  is  a  record  of  $20,000  in  United 
States  seven  and  three-tenths  Treasury  Notes.  This  investment  was 
followed  by  another  of  $14,000  in  United  States  six-per-cent.  Cer- 
tificates. As  funds  came  in  for  reinvestment,  the  preference  was 
given  to  government  securities,  until  the  annual  statement  of  1866 
shows  $26,000  of  the  endowment  fund  so  invested  and  $105,000 
of  the  building  fund. 

■J 

One  of  the  most  fruitful  methods  by  which  the  influence  of  the 
rector  of  St.  George's  was  intensified  and  perpetuated  was  through 
his  Lectures  on  Preaching,  delivered  to  students  and  young  clergy- 
men at  various  times  and  places,  so  that  through  many  a  voice  in 
succeeding  years  he  "  being  dead  yet  speaketh."  In  the  fall  of 
1861,  in  accordance  with  the  request  of  some  young  clergymen  who 
wished  to  know  more  of  the  secret  of  his  pulpit  power,  he  began 
the  delivery  of  a  course  of  lectures  on  preaching,  extending  through 
the  winter,  to  some  twenty-five  young  men  in  Orders  in  the  chapel  of 
St.  George's  Church.  Scarcely  was  it  concluded  when  some  stu- 
dents of  the  General  Theological  Seminary  requested  repetition  of 
this  course  of  lectures  for  their  benefit.  Accordingly  during  the 
month  of  May,  1862,  he  repeated  the  substance  of  these  lectures, 


224  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

rearranged  for  better  adaptation  to  this  class  of  hearers,  in  the 
chapel  of  his  own  church.  Then  the  Alumni  Association  and  stu- 
dents of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Gambier,  Ohio,  asked  the 
privilege  of  hearing  him  upon  this  theme,  upon  which  he  spoke  so 
helpfully;  and  so  in  June  he  went  to  Gambier  and  there  lectured 
to  the  students  and  Alumi  gathered  for  the  annual  commencement. 
As  a  special  mark  of  the  grateful  appreciation  of  his  hearers,  a 
Tyng  Scholarship  in  the  Institution  was  at  once  established  and 
provision  made  for  its  maintenance. 

The  Philadelphia  Divinity  School  was  organized  in  1862,  the 
Alexandria  Seminary  having  been  closed  on  account  of  the  war  and 
its  buildings  used  for  military  purposes.  Dr.  Tyng  was  requested 
by  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  to  deliver,  as  part  of  the  instruction 
in  the  new  Divinity  School,  such  lectures  on  preaching  as  he  had 
delivered  elsewhere,  A  large  number  of  the  Philadelphia  clergy, 
upon  learning  of  this  invitation  of  Bishop  Potter,  united  in  urging 
its  acceptance,  desiring  themselves  to  hear  the  speaker.  The  op- 
portunity being  thus  afforded  for  a  fuller  elaboration  of  the  theme, 
Dr.  Tyng  evolved  the  original  seventeen  lectures  into  three  distinct 
series  of  fourteen  each,  under  the  general  title  "  The  Office  and 
Work  of  the  Ministry."  The  topics  of  the  several  courses  were: 
I.  Preaching  in  itself — the  thing  to  be  done.  II.  Preachers  in  their 
qualifications — the  persons  to  do  it.  III.  Preaching  in  its  actual  ex- 
ercise— the  proper  way  of  doing  it.  The  first  of  the  series  was 
delivered  during  April,  1863,  in  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Philadelphia. 
The  interest  and  pleasure  with  which  the  lectures  had  been  heard 
by  the  clergy  in  attendance  was  attested  in  these  expressions  of  a 
letter  wiiich  they  united  in  addressing  to  the  Eev.  Dr.  Tyng: 

We  are  your  debtors  for  an  extraordinary  measure  of  instruction  in 
your  happy  mode  of  distingiiishing  wliat  the  gospel  is  and  what  it  is  to 
preach  it,  and  of  illustrating  3'our  topics  from  varied  and  large  experience 
and  observation.  Not  only  have  the  candidates  and  the  young  in  the 
ministry  found  in  your  words  needful  and  fit  instruction  and  counsel,  but 
the  elder  class  of  j'our  hearers  have  received  light  and  strength  and  spirit 
for  their  work,  which  they  thank  God  for  making  you  the  instrument  of 
imparting. 

To  resume  consideration  of  the  details  of  St.  George's  life,  we 
note  that  Rev.  Dr.  Heman  Dyer  again  became  assistant  to  the  rector 
from  September  1,  1862,  and  continued  in  that  relation  until  June 
1,  1863.  His  successor  was  the  Rev.  William  T.  Sabine,  who  re- 
signed to  accept  a  church  in  Cincinnati  in  October,  1863.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1864,  the  vestry  thought  the  rector  should  have  leisure  for 
traveling  abroad  to  recruit  his  health,  and  voted  him  leave  of  ab- 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  225 

sence  and  $1,500  for  expenses.  The  Eev.  Tapping  R.  Chipman 
was  appointed  assistant  from  February  1,  1864,  at  a  salary  of  $2,000 
and  continued  in  that  relation  until  the  following  November.  The 
Rev.  William  T.  Sabine  was  then  elected  "  assistant  minister  of  this 
church  "  at  a  salary  of  $2,500,  but  he  declined  to  accept.  The  Rev. 
Uriah  T.  Tracy  was  appointed  assistant  to  the  rector  from  Febru- 
ary 1st  to  August,  1865,  at  $2,000  per  year.  In  March,  1865, 
$1,000  additional  to  his  salary  was  voted  to  the  rector  "  in  con- 
sideration of  the  present  increased  rate  of  living,"  and  the  following 
November  $3,000  more  was  added  to  the  rector's  salary  for  the 
past  year.  The  Rev.  Brockholst  Morgan  was  appointed  assistant 
for  one  year  from  August  1,  1865,  at  $1,000  per  year,  but  he  con- 
tinued to  serve  only  until  January,  1866.  The  Rev.  C.  W.  Bolton, 
who  had  rendered  such  efficient  and  acceptable  service  at  the  chapel 
in  Nineteenth  Street,  resigned,  to  take  effect  July  31,  1865,  in  order 
to  accept  a  parish  on  Staten  Island ;  and  the  Rev.  C.  S.  Stephenson 
was  appointed  his  successor. 

The  City  Mission  work  supported  by  St.  George's  parish  is  so 
essentially  a  part  of  its  history  as  to  demand  a  monograph  describ- 
ing it. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  mission  chapel  work.  The  one  contem- 
plates its  probable  development  into  a  church  organization,  more 
or  less  self-supporting;  the  other  is  content  to  achieve  a  present 
spiritual  good  without  ulterior  organized  results, — to  provide  free 
worship  with  its  attendant  spiritual  privileges  for  those  unable  to 
provide  these  for  themselves.  In  this  latter  kind  of  mission  work 
in  New  York  St.  George's  was  a  pioneer.  In  none  of  its  chapels 
were  collections  made  for  current  expenses;  whatever  offerings  the 
people  might  contribute  were  devoted  to  specified  outside  benevolent 
objects. 

In  the  spring  of  1851,  the  East  Side  mission  work  was  begun  by 
the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  Calvin  C.  Wolcott  to  labor  among  the 
poor.  A  large  number  of  children,  without  provision  of  any  kind 
for  their  religious  instruction,  in  the  district  between  Seventeenth 
and  Twentieth  streets  and  First  Avenue  and  the  river,  prompted  the 
establishment,  in  1854,  of  a  Sunday-school  at  Avenue  A  and  Nine- 
teenth Street  in  a  rented  room.  So  immediately  successful  was 
this  enterprise  that  within  a  year  33  teachers  and  423  scholars 
had  been  gathered  in,  the  missionary  conducting  service  and  preach- 
ing every  Sunday  morning.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  work  neces- 
sitated a  permanent  home,  and  lots  were  purchased  on  Nineteenth 

15 


226  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Street  east  of  Avenue  A  by  the  vestry,  the  Sunday-school  under- 
taking to  erect  the  building;  and  in  the  fall  of  1859,  the  chapel, 
with  tower,  bell,  and  organ,  was  completed  and  consecrated  by 
Bishop  Horatio  Potter  on  the  18th  of  September.  The  cost  of  St. 
George's  Mission  Chapel  was  $24,800,  of  which  all  but  about  $7,000, 
the  cost  of  the  land,  was  paid  by  the  Sunday-school  and  through 
the  personal  efforts  of  the  rector.  The  name  was  subsequently 
changed  to  the  Chapel  of  Free  Grace  as  other  chapels  of  the  parish 
came  into  being.  For  the  government  and  care  of  this  chapel,  and 
with  a  view  to  other  similar  work  in  the  near  future,  a  compre- 
hensive plan  was  devised  by  the  rector  and  approved  by  the  vestry, 
providing  for  a  board  of  ten  trustees  to  be  annually  appointed  by 
the  vestry,  who,  together  with  the  rector,  should  manage  and  control 
the  chapels, — should  make  their  own  bj^-laws,  provide  for  the  sal-- 
aries  of  the  ministers,  out  of  the  funds  to  be  contributed  specifically 
for  the  support  of  the  work,  and  report  annually  to  the  vestry.  The 
selection  and  engagement  of  the  ministers  was  reserved  to  the  Cor- 
poration, as  they  were  to  be  regarded  as  part  of  the  regular  ministry 
of  the  parish.  This  organization  worked  so  well  that  it  was  con- 
tinued throughout  Dr.  Tyng's  rectorship.  The  gentlemen  who  ac- 
cepted membership  in  the  board  cheerfully  devoted  time  and  energy 
and  personal  service  to  the  duties  of  the  position,  while  the  rector 
unflaggingly  gave  personal  oversight  to  the  entire  work.  To  provide 
means  for  carrying  it  on,  a  collection  was  annually  made  in  the 
church  on  the  second  Sunday  after  Easter,  and  the  generous  con- 
gregation responded  the  first  year  with  $3,500,  which  provision  grew 
to  double  that  sum  in  after  years,  as  occasion  required. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Wolcott,  who  had  labored  so  faithfully  for  eight 
years  in  the  pioneer  work,  and  had  enjoyed  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
ample  provision  made  for  its  establishment  on  a  permanent  basis, 
was  compelled  by  failing  health  to  resign  his  charge,  and  the  Rev. 
C.  W.  Bolton  was  appointed  in  March,  1859,  as  minister  of  St. 
George's  Chapel  and  the  Rev.  Charles  Schramm,  D.D.,  as  min- 
ister in  charge  of  the  German  department.  The  chapel  proper 
seated  about  800  people,  the  English  congregation  worshiping  in  the 
morning  and  evening  and  the  German  congregation  in  the  after- 
noon. Both  Sunday-schools  met  in  the  morning  in  their  respective 
rooms,  the  one  numbering  380  attendants  and  the  other  140.  There 
was  also  maintained  a  daily  English  school  of  130  children.  A 
reading-room  for  men  and  boys  was  open  every  evening.  There  was  a 
lecture  Tuesday  evening  for  the  English  congregation  and  a  Prayer- 
meeting  Thursday  evening.    The  German  congregation  had  a  lecture 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  227 

every  Friday  evening,  and  a  sewing-school  for  both  the  English  and 
the  German  girls  was  efficiently  at  work.  The  second  was  the  Chapel 
of  the  Bread  of  Life  in  Sixteenth  Street  near  First  Avenue,  which 
had  been  inaugurated  as  a  branch  of  the  Nineteenth  Street  chapel 
in  January,  1S61,  at  No.  214  East  Fourteenth  Street,  in  a  hired 
room  fitted  up  for  the  purpose,  the  teachers  being  taken  from  the 
Bible  classes  of  that  Mission ;  but  it  was  soon  moved  to  a  Sixteenth 
Street  site,  and  again  later  removed  to  Fourteenth  Street,  until  the 
completion  of  the  new  chapel  at  No.  420  on  that  street  for  its  joint 
occupation  with  the  German  Mission.  The  third  was  the  Chapel  o£ 
Living  Waters  at  No.  283  Avenue  B,  an  enterprise  undertaken  in  the 
same  year.  During  the  July  draft  riots,  however,  in  1863,  the 
building  was  attacked  and  gutted  by  the  mob,  but  the  Mission  soon 
recovered  from  this  shock'  and  at  the  following  Easter  anniversary 
in  the  church  was  represented  by  12  teachers  and  135  children.  But 
various  difficulties  attending  its  maintenance  as  a  separate  mission 
induced  the  trustees,  in  1866,  to  incorporate  it  temporarily  with  the 
original  chapel  work  in  Nineteenth  Street.  Within  two  years  it  was 
revived  in  a  house.  No.  607  East  Fourteenth  Street,  and  officered  by 
members  of  the  Nineteenth  Street  congregation,  continuing  its  sepa- 
rate work  until  1871. 

Meanwhile  the  thriving  German  Mission  under  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Schramm  had  utterly  outgrown  the  accommodation  which  could 
be  spared  for  it  in  the  Nineteenth  Street  chapel.  The  rector  and  the 
Mission  Trustees  therefore,  in  January,  1863,  purchased  a  lot  of 
land  and  the  building  thereon  in  East  Fourteenth  Street  for  $3,700, 
altering  and  adapting  it  for  the  use  of  the  German  Mission  at  an 
expenditure  of  $7,000,  which  was  supplied  by  St.  George's  Sunday- 
school  and  friends  in  the  congregation.  It  was  ready  for  occupancy 
October  11,  1863,  and  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Potter  on  Christ- 
mas eve.  Dr.  Schramm's  connection  with  the  Chapel  terminated  in 
March,  1869,  after  a  connection  with  St.  George's  Mission  work  of 
sixteen  years  since  his  first  entrance  upon  it  as  a  teacher.  The  Rev. 
J.  C.  Fleischhacker  was  his  successor. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Bolton,  who  had  so  successfully  organized  and 
systematized  the  work  at  the  Nineteenth  Street  Chapel,  resigned  in 
August,  1865,  and  the  Rev.  C.  S.  Stephenson,  who  had  assisted  him 
while  yet  a  student  for  the  ministry,  was  appointed  to  succeed  him. 
At  the  expiration  of  a  similar  term  of  six  years'  service,  Mr.  Stephen- 
son's health  failed,  and  the  Rev.  Eastburn  Brown  assumed  the 
duties  of  the  place  in  June,  1871,  continuing  in  the  work  until. 
December,   1874.     After   a  year's  interval,  in  which   the   Chapeli 


228  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

was  served  through  temporary  appointments  of  the  Rev.  Rob- 
ert Mollan  and  others,  the  Rev.  Anselan  Buchanan  was  elected 
minister  in  December,  1875,  and  remained  in  charge  until  April, 
1878. 

The  German  work  demanding  more  facilities  for  growth,  and  the 
Chapel -of  the  Bread  of  Life  clamoring  for  room  to  expand,  it  was 
finally  decided,  after  examining  other  sites,  to  buy  a  lot  adjoining 
and  replace  the  existing  German  chapel  on  Fourteenth  Street  by 
a  larger  two-storied  building  for  the  accommodation  of  them  both. 
This  plan  was  carried  out  in  1872,  at  a  cost  of  $40,000,  and  the 
two  Missions  jointly  occupied  the  new,  commodious,  and  convenient 
chapel  building.  During  the  process  of  erection  the  German  con- 
gregation was  accommodated  in  a  hall  in  the  Plympton  Building,  at 
Eighth  Street  and  Astor  Place. 

From  the  date  of  the  joint  occupancy  of  the  new  chapel  with  the 
German  Mission,  the  Chapel  of  the  Bread  of  Life,  under  the  efficient 
superintendence  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Philips,  grew  rapidly.  In  April, 
1873,  it  numbered  32  teachers  and  413  scholars,  holding  two  sessions 
each  Sunday.  Within  five  years  it  had  68  teachers  and  1,000  mem- 
bers on  its  roll,  divided  into  three  departments,  with  an  average 
attendance  of  800.  A  Sunday  Evening  Service  was  regularly  held. 
In  this  year,  1878,  twenty-seven  members  of  the  school  were  pre- 
sented for  Confirmation  in  the  church.  Its  working  force  was  de- 
voted and  enthusia.stic. 

Such  in  brief  outline  was  the  City  Mission  Work  during  the  rector- 
ship of  Dr.  Tyng.  In  order  to  fill  in  the  outline  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  make  mention  of  the  various  agencies  for  good  which  were 
in  operation  in  the  various  chapels  as  occasion  for  them  promised 
usefulness.  The  annual  reports  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  which  had 
the  charge  and  supervision  with  the  rector  of  the  entire  work,  detail 
how  numerous  and  efficient  were  these  agencies.  It  may  suffice  to 
name  some  of  them:  The  Sewing  School,  The  Helping  Hand,  The 
Dorcas  Society,  The  Sewing  Circle,  The  Mother's  Meeting  for  the 
women  and  girls,  The  Day  School  for  Children,  The  Debating  So- 
ciety, The  Young  Men's  Literary  Association,  The  Reading  Room 
for  boys  and  men;  the  Christmas  Festivals,  Thanksgiving  Treats, 
and  Summer  Excursions, — all  these  bore  their  part,  together  with 
the  Bible  readers,  parish  visitors,  prayer  meetings,  and  other  re- 
ligious gatherings  for  instruction  and  worship,  in  the  uplift  of  the 
families  and  neighborhoods  to  which  the  Chapels  ministered.  The 
people  for  the  most  part  were  quite  poor;  and  at  the  outset  it  was 
recognized  that  indiscriminate   giving   encourages   pauperism   and 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  229 

that  the  supreme  effort  in  all  truly  charitable  work  should  be  to 
encourage  self-help.  This  principle  was  effectively  made  operative 
in  such  ways  as  compensating  women  for  their  work  in  making 
garments  and  in  selling  to  them,  at  one-third  less  than  cost,  clothing 
and  other  necessaries  of  life :  so  that  the  Trustees  were  able  to  report 
'^  many  poor  families  have  been  raised  to  respectability  and  to  en- 
tire self-support  by  the  Divine  Blessing  on  this  work."  The  work 
in  its  entirety  was  one  of  which  St.  George 's  might  be  justly  proud. 
The  aggregate  expenditure  for  it,  during  the  eighteen  years  from  the 
building  of  the  first  chapel  to  the  close  of  Dr.  Tyng's  ministry  in 
1878,  approximated  $250,000.  Its  gradual  decadence  with  the  de- 
creasing numbers  and  resources  of  St.  George's  congregation  will 
be  duly  noted  in  the  record  of  events. 

Changes  in  the  congregation  were  becoming  more  noticeable  by 
the  removal  of  valuable  families  further  up-town.  Of  the  vestry 
identified  with  the  erection  of  the  new  church,  there  remained  only 
Adolphus  Lane,  Joseph  Lawrence,  and  Samuel  Hopkins,  and  on 
June  11,  1865,  one  of  these,  Mr.  Lawrence,  was  removed  by  death. 
For  more  than  forty  years  he  had  been  a  constant  attendant  upon 
the  ministry  and  worship  of  St.  George's  Church,  was  made  a  vestry- 
man in  1847,  and  in  1863  a  warden.  His  whole  life  had  been  dis- 
tinguished by  unblemished  uprightness  and  generous  action,  and  in 
his  church  relations  his  example  was  one  of  singular  purity  and 
faithfulness  to  every  obligation.  The  Vestry  sincerely  mourned 
his  loss  and  retained  the  memory  of  his  official  fidelity,  his  judi- 
cious counsel,  and  his  personal  excellencies  with  reverent  appre- 
ciation. 

The  rector  had  from  time  to  time  sought  recuperation  of  his 
strength  in  transatlantic  trips,  generally  at  the  instance  of  his  loving 
people  and  considerate  vestry.  Such  periodic  respites  from  his  in- 
cessant and  exhausting  labors  were  an  imperative  necessity.  But  he 
began  to  feel  that  could  he  have  a  country  home,  where  he  might 
spend  some  portion  of  the  year  in  the  surroundings  of  that  country 
life,  the  love  of  which  he  had  not  lost,  he  could  the  better  stand  the 
strain  of  his  church  duties  and  multiplied  activities.  Quite  naturally 
his  thoughts  first  turned  to  Newburyport,  his  native  place ;  but  any 
spot  so  distant  from  New  York  could  only  serve  for  recreation  dur- 
ing the  summer  months.  The  place  he  needed  was  one  near  the 
city,  from  which  he  could  go  daily  to  his  work  in  order  that  his 
pulpit  duties  and  pastoral  ministries  might  be  uninterruptedly  con- 


230  HISTORY    Or    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

tinuous,  save  for  a  few  weeks  in  midsummer  when  the  church  was 
closed.  The  spot  selected  was  in  Irvington-on-Hudson,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  "  Cottage  Home."  There  in  succeeding  sum- 
mers of  his  life  he  lived  in  relaxation  and  comparative  retire- 
ment. He  found  much  pleasure  in  improving  tlie  original  small 
cottage  and  in  acquiring  more  land  and  in  beautifying  the  whole 
place;  and  doubtless  to  this  wise  provision  of  a  suburban  home  he 
owed  much  of  the  vigor  which  remained  to  him  in  his  declining 
3^ears. 

In  his  annual  report  of  the  parish  to  the  Convention  in  Sep- 
tember, 1865,  the  rector  noted  his  completion  of  twenty  years  as 
rector  of  St.  George's,  and  a  summary  of  his  work  gathered  from 
that  report  may  well  be  entered  here : 

The  annual  pew  rents  at  the  commencement  of  this  period  were  $1,500; 
for  the  past  seventeen  years  they  have  averaged  between  ten  and  twelve 
thousand  dollars.  The  sum  of  benevolent  contributions  for  others  was  in 
the  first  year  $2,800;  in  the  last,  it  has  been  $40,000.  The  aggregate  of 
the  first  ten  vears  was  $77,000;  the  aggi'egate  for  the  last  ten  years  has 
been  $.325,000;  total  collections,  $402,000.  The  Sunday-school  collections 
have  amounted  to  $38,352;  with  this  sum  have  been  erected  a  stone  church 
in  Monrovia,  Africa,  costing  $10,000;  St.  George's  Mission  Chapel  in  East 
Nineteenth  Street,  costing  $17,000  (exclusive  of  the  cost  of  the  land) ; 
and  St.  George's  German  Mission  Chapel  in  East  Eourteenth  Street,  cost- 
ing $10,000. 

The  Dorcas  Society  has  made  and  distributed  among  the  poor  20,000 
garments,  and  clothed  3,465  poor  children  of  the  Sunday-school.  The 
Ladies'  Soldiers'  Aid  Society  has  expended  over  $5,000  for  clothing  for  the 
sick  soldiers  and  sailors.  The  Association  of  Young  Men  in  aid  of  St. 
Luke's  Hospital  has  collected  and  paid  for  the  sujDport  of  patients  over 
$12,000.  A  kindred  Association  of  Young  Ladies  has  made  for  the  same 
institution  3,000  garments  costing  $1,500.  Another  band  of  young  ladies 
has  maintained  a  weekly  sewing-school  in  which  more  than  1,500  girls 
have  been  thoroughly  taught  to  sew.  The  supi^ort  of  our  local  missions, 
missionaries,  and  chapels  has  cost  an  average  of  $6,000  per  year.  Our 
Sunday-schools  have  been  another  flourishing  and  successful  part  of  our 
twenty  years'  work.  Those  in  the  parish  church  long  since  attained  their 
present  size  of  150  teachers  and  2,000  scholars,  which  number  has  become 
so  steadily  maintained,  that  it  seems  to  be  the  i^rovidential  measure  of  our 
work.  The  mission  schools  at  our  four  mission  chapels  are  eminently 
successful  and  useful. 

During  these  twenty  years  I  have  received  1,225  communicants,  959  of 
whom  Avere  received  to  their  first  communion  here.  I  have  administered 
baptism  to  175  adults  and  625  infants.  I  have  solemnized  463  marriages. 
I  liave  presented  899  for  confirmation.  In  these  last  reports  of  actual  re- 
sults are  included  only  the  work  in  the  parish  church,  and  not  those  of 
the  missions  which  would  nearly  double  these  numbers.     I  have  lost  but 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  231 

one  Lord's  Day  from  absolute  sickness  in  all  my  twenty  years  of  ministry 
here.  St.  George's  Church  is  still  flourishing  and  fruitful,  as  these  facts 
must  show.  Nevertheless  we  are  rapidly  experiencing  the  results  of  re- 
moval to  distant  parts  of  the  city  and  to  counti-y  residences  of  many  fam- 
ilies of  our  congregation,  the  influence  of  which  is  painful  and  to  a  degree 
injurious  to  our  work.  The  future  the  gracious  Lord  will  direct.  The  past 
has  been  eminently  prosperous.    The  present  is  not  discouraging. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE     TYNG    PERIOD 

(18G5-1878) 

On  Tuesday,  the  14th  of  November,  1865,  St.  George's  Church 
was  destroyed  by  fire.  The  flames  were  first  discovered  bursting 
from  the  roof  and  into  the  church  from  the  ceiling  about  2  p.m., 
and  despite  the  most  energetic  efforts  to  save  the  building,  by  five 
o'clock  the  interior  and  the  roof  were  completely  destroyed,  together 
with  the  organ  and  furniture,  leaving  only  the  walls  and  towers 
standing. 

The  firemen  worked  assiduously  to  extinguish  the  flames,  but  as 
the  fire  broke  out  at  so  great  an  elevation,  the  means  of  reaching  it 
proved  ineffectual.  The  great  height  of  the  walls,  however,  confined 
the  fire  within  them,  and  the  adjoining  rectory  escaped  injury. 
As  Dr.  Tyng  surveyed  the  ruins  of  the  church  which  had  been 
reared  under  his  watchful  eye  and  which  had  stood  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  many  hopes  and  aspirations,  of  much  anxiety  and  care 
and  of  some  honest  pride,  what  wonder  he  exclaimed,  ' '  All  is  gone ; 
the  labor  of  my  life  is  ended."     A  former  parishioner  writes: 

I  was  six  years  old  wlien  the  church  burned  and  I  can  remember  dis- 
tinctly my  childish  grief,  to  think  my  church  was  being  destroyed.  I  can 
see  the  crowds  to  this  day  in  Stuyvesant  Square  watching-  the  flames,  and 
their  final  dispersion  by  the  i^olice  for  fear  the  beautifid  spires  would  fall 
upon  them.  I  still  feel  the  awe  which  came  over  me  when  the  hands  of  the 
clock  stopped;  it  seemed  to  me  foi'ever.  I  remember,  when  the  heat  in  our 
drawing-room  became  almost  unbearable,  we  little  ehildi'en,  six,  five,  and 
three,  retreated  to  the  back  of  the  long  room  and  fell  upon  our  knees, 
and  prayed,  I  suj^pose,  for  safety;  but  the  impression  left  upon  memory 
is  that  the  prayer  was  for  our  beloved  Dr.  Tyng  and  his  chui'ch.  It  was 
always  Dr.  Tyng's  churcli  to  us.  I  remember  how  we  were  told  that  he 
stood  upon  the  steps  of  the  rectory  and  watched,  Spartan-like,  while  the 
roof  crashed  in. 

But  appalling  as  was  the  calamity,  the  rector  and  vestry  speedily 
addressed  themselves  to  the  situation  with  determination  and  en- 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  233 

ergetic  action.  The  use  of  Irving  Hall,  in  the  near  neighborhood, 
was  at  once  secured  for  the  services  of  the  following  Sunday,  and 
a  committee  was  directed  to  make  further  arrangements  for  the 
future.  A  meeting  of  the  pew-holders  was  called  to  meet  on  Mon- 
day, the  20th,  to  "  confer  with  the  vestry  on  the  present  condition 
of  the  church  and  the  measures  necessary  to  be  taken  to  repair  the 
loss  sustained  by  the  late  disastrous  fire."  Thanks  were  conveyed 
to  the  fire  department  and  the  metropolitan  police  for  their  "  ef- 
fiiciency  and  propriety  of  conduct  "  exhibited  at  the  fire. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  congregation  there  was  a  large  attendance. 
The  rector  presented  a  printed  statement  setting  forth  that  the 
cost  of  the  church,  rectory,  and  chapel  had  been  about  $340,000, 
which  had  been  paid  from  the  sale  of  lots  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
city  and  money  received  from  pews ;  the  corporation  had  been  with- 
out debt  since  1850 ;  $100,000  had  been  kept  invested  as  a  permanent 
endowment  for  the  support  of  the  church ;  though  the  pew  rents  had 
been  fixed  at  a  lower  rate  than  in  any  of  the  late  new  churches  in 
the  city,  they  had  averaged  for  the  seventeen  years  past  about 
$10,000  per  year;  the  annual  expenses  and  repairs  to  the  property 
had  absorbed  the  whole  income,  including  $6,000  per  year  from  the 
endowment ;  the  insurance  on  the  church  was  $70,000  and  $10,000 
on  the  organ  and  furniture ;  to  rebuild  the  church,  this  is  the  whole 
sum  at  present  within  the  control  of  the  Corporation;  the  cost  of 
restoring  the  church  would  be  from  $150,000  to  $200,000.  Two 
postulates  were  to  be  assumed  as  binding,  in  rebuilding  the  church 
here  or  elsewhere:  P'irst,  that  the  endowment  of  $100,000  must  not 
be  expended  or  diminished  for  building,  and,  second,  that  no  debt 
must  be  left  on  the  new  building  to  absorb  the  future  income  of 
the  church  by  its  interest  and  extinction,  or  to  harass  and  destroy 
the  power  and  energy  of  the  church  for  usefulness  by  its  bondage 
and  anxiety.  In  any  plans  for  rebuilding,  two  questions  arise  for 
settlement :  1.  Shall  we  rebuild  on  this  location  or  shall  we  remove  ? 
2.  If  we  rebuild  here,  shall  we  restore  the  church  in  general  con- 
sistency with  its  former  aspect,  allowing  only  such  modifications  of 
the  interior  as  may  be  found  desirable  or  expedient  for  convenience 
or  economy?  During  the  interval  of  building  while  worshiping  in 
other  places,  will  the  pew-holders  consent  to  the  assessment  and 
collection  of  the  same  sums  as  they  have  been  accustomed  to  pay  for 
the  support  of  the  ministry  and  worship  of  the  congregation  ? 

As  the  result  of  the  deliberations  of  this  meeting  of  the  con- 
gregation, it  was  decided  that  the  church  be  rebuilt  on  its  present 
location  and  restored  to  its  former  condition,  with  as  little  expense 


234  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

over  $120,000  as  possible,  exclusive  of  organ  and  clock.  A  subscrip- 
tion list  was  at  once  opened,  and  in  a  short  time  $52,000  had  been 
subscribed.  A  committee  of  seven  was  appointed  to  collect  sub- 
scriptions consisting  of  Messrs.  Percy  R.  Pyne,  J.  Pierpont  Morgan, 
Charles  J.  Easton,  Francis  M.  Babcock,  Theodore  Crane,  William 
Alexander  Smith,  and  W.  H.  Neilson. 

The  vestry  accordingly  at  once  took  order  to  proceed  with  the 
work  and  appointed  a  building  committee  of  three  members  of  the 
vestry,  Messrs.  Pyne,  Haines,  and  Smith,  and  three  members  of  the 
congregation,  Messrs.  Blodgett,  Easton,  and  Morgan;  the  rector  was 
subsequently  added  to  the  committee.  These  gentlemen  at  once  con- 
sulted Leopold  Eidlitz,  the  architect  of  the  church,  as  to  plans, 
specifications,  and  estimates.  These  were  laid  before  the  vestry 
December  21st,  and  the  committee  was  instructed  to  restore  the 
church  as  nearly  as  possible  to  its  original  aspect,  with  discretionary 
power  to  make  alterations  in  its  finish  and  interior.  At  the  meeting 
of  January  11,  1866,  the  building  committee  reported,  that  in  ob- 
taining estimates  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  church  they  had  had  in 
view  the  recommendations  of  the  vestry  at  its  last  meeting,  and  now 
proposed  the  following  modifications  of  the  original  plan — namely, 
to  line  the  exterior  walls  of  the  church  with  a  twelve-inch  hollow 
brick  wall,  to  raise  the  apse  thirteen  feet  and  introduce  five  windows 
therein,  to  extend  the  chancel,  and  to  substitute  iron  for  wooden 
stairs  up  to  the  organ  loft.  Including  these  items,  the  committee 
reported  detailed  estimates  of  the  architect,  which  amounted,  ex- 
clusive of  organ  and  clock,  to  $159,994.  The  estimates  were  ap- 
proved and  the  committee  authorized  to  proceed  with  the  work  of 
construction. 

Upon  the  burning  of  the  church,  among  the  many  letters  of  sincere 
sympathy  addressed  to  Dr.  Tyng  was  one  from  the  rector  of  Trinity 
Church ;  and  this  was  followed  by  another,  with  the  concurrence  and 
approval  of  his  vestry,  tendering  the  use  of  Trinity  Chapel  on 
Sunday  evenings  until  the  church  could  be  rebuilt.  Dr.  Tyng  in 
reply  expressed  his  thanks  and  those  of  the  vestry  of  St.  George's, 
and  stated  that  it  had  been  determined  to  rebuild  at  once  and  that 
the  use  of  Irving  Hall  had  been  secured  for  the  services.  The 
committee  had  been  authorized  to  offer  at  the  rate  of  five  thousand 
dollars  per  year,  for  the  use,  morning  and  afternoon,  of  the  Church 
of  the  Puritans,  but  finding  that  plan  impracticable,  they  leased 
Irving  Hall  at  the  rate  of  $2,500  per  year  for  the  Sunday  services, 
with  liberty  to  vacate  at  a  week's  notice.  Such  arrangements  as 
were  possible  to  adapt  the  hall  for  public  worship  were  perfected, 


THE     TYXG    PERIOD  235 

and  the  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  large  congregation  which 
met  in  this  hall  until  the  completion  of  the  new  church  were  satis- 
factorily secured. 

The  rector  and  vestry  of  the  Church  of  the  Redemption  tendered 
the  gratuitous  use  of  their  church  on  Sundays  and  holy  days  for 
the  Celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  as  a  token  of  appreciation 
of  this  courtesy,  the  treasurer  was  directed  to  send  to  the  vestry  of 
that  Church  through  their  rector,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dickson,  the  sum  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  although  the  use  of  their  edifice  was 
not  deemed  necessary. 

The  church  was  reopened  for  public  worship  on  the  29th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1867,  the  rector  preaching  both  morning  and  afternoon  to 
congregations  which  thronged  the  edifice  to  its  fullest  capacity. 
The  pastor  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  the  venerable  Dr. 
Gardiner  Spring,  occupied  a  seat  in  the  chancel  and  offered  an  ap- 
propriate prayer  at  the  close  of  the  morning  service.  He  was  the 
senior  pastor  of  the  Presb3i:erian  Church  in  the  city;  he  had  been 
the  neighbor  and  associate  in  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Milnor  in  Beek- 
raan  Street  and  the  lifelong  friend  of  Dr.  Tyng  and  his  family, 
so  that  his  presence  on  this  occasion  in  St.  George 's  was  regarded  as 
an  appropriate  expression  of  fraternal  courtesy. 

The  consecration  of  the  church  was  appointed  for  the  19th  of 
December,  1867,  at  which  time  it  was  duly  consecrated  to  the  wor- 
ship of  Almighty  God  by  the  Right  Rev.  Ploratio  Potter,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York.  About  fifty  of  the  city  and 
neighboring  clergy  were  present,  and  the  rector  preached  from  Psalm 
26 :8,  ' '  Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thy  House  and  the 
place  where  Thine  honor  dwelleth."  A  social  gathering  and  re- 
freshments were  provided  in  the  parish  building  for  the  bishop  and 
clergy  at  the  close  of  the  service. 

The  final  report  of  the  building  committee  showed  that  the  com- 
pleted work  on  the  new  edifice,  including  the  furniture,  had  cost 
$181,457.50.  To  meet  this  expense,  there  had  been  received  from 
insurance  $80,000,  from  contributors  $69,216.60,  from  sale  of  pews 
and  assessments  $13,550,  from  interest  and  gains  $6,445.53,  for 
memorial  windows  $2,000;  making  a  total  of  $171,212.13.  There 
were  a  few  uncollected  items  noted  by  the  treasurer  to  be  credited 
to  the  building  fund,  amounting  to  $1,800;  so  that  only  $8,445.37 
of  the  entire  cost  of  reconstruction  had  not  been  specially  provided 
for.  The  rector  presented  a  supplementary^  report  of  individual  gifts, 
most  of  which  he  had  undertaken  to  secure  through  the  Sunday- 
schools  or  by  his  personal  efforts  from  other  sources.     These  were: 


236  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

1.  Five  memorial  windows  in  the  chancel  at  a  cost  of  $500  each,  to 
commemorate  deceased  and  highly  esteemed  members  of  St.  George's 
Church  presented  by  the  several  families  representing  them  or  by  individual 
members  of  those  families.  In  the  order  of  their  arrangement,  commencing 
at  the  southeast  corner  of  the  chancel  they  commemorate  William  K.  Strong, 
by  his  widow  Helen  M.  Strong;  Abraham  G.  Valentine,  by  his  daughter 
Mary  J.  Valentine;  Joseph  Lawrence,  by  his  widow  Rosetta  Lawrence; 
Peter  G.  Arcularius  and  Augusta  Arcularius,  his  wife,  by  the  family  of 
A.  M.  Arcularius,  his  brother;  Frederick  A.  Tracy  and  Eliza  R.  Tracy,  his 
wife,  by  their  surviving  children. 

2.  The  whole  furniture  of  the  chancel,  comprising  the  pulpit,  reading- 
desk,  font,  communion-table,  chancel  railing,  robes  for  ministering,  in- 
cluding a  gown  of  black  silk  and  three  surplices  of  lawn  with  black  silk 
stoles,  together  with  the  additional  cost  of  more  appropriate  and  beautiful 
tiles  for  the  floor  within  the  chancel  than  the  contract  required, — in  all 
amounting  to  $7,440,  have  been  the  gift  of  the  Sunday-schools. 

3.  The  books  for  chancel  use  were  the  gift  of  Edward  and  Sophia  Ann 
Walker,  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Dorothy  Sheddell,  mother  of  Mrs.  Walker, 
who  was  a  very  grateful  and  attached  member  of  St.  George's  Church. 
These  books,  seventeen  in  number,  were  enclosed  in  a  black  walnut  case, 
standing  in  the  vestry  room  of  the  church.  They  probably  cost  more  than 
$500,  a  most  beautiful  and  perfect  set  of  books  for  the  service  of  the 
sanctuary. 

4.  The  clock,  costing  by  original  contract  complete,  including  the  ma- 
chinery necessary  for  the  three  dials  in  each  tower  and  for  a  dial  in 
front  of  the  organ,  when  a  new  organ  shall  be  erected  in  the  church,  and 
putting  up  and  finishing  the  same,  $4,800  provided  by  the  personal  efforts 
of  the  rector. 

The  total  of  these  gifts  amounted  to  $15,240.  The  organ  from  the  old 
ehurcli  in  Beekman  Street,  which  had  been  conceded  to  St.  George's  in  the 
final  settlement  with  Trinity  Church,  was  renovated  and  removed  to  the 
new  church  for  temporally  use. 

A  question  quite  difficult  of  solution  confronted  the  vestry,  as 
to  the  legal  effect  of  the  destruction  of  the  church  upon  the  rights 
of  former  pew-owners,  and  also  whether  any  right  to  property  in 
pews  had  been  acquired  by  persons  contributing  funds  to  the  re- 
building of  the  church.  A  committee  consisting  of  William  A. 
Haines  and  Charles  Tracy  was  charged  to  consider  the  subject  fully 
in  all  its  aspects,  obtaining  a  legal  opinion  thereon  from  competent 
counsel  not  connected  with  the  corporation,  if  they  deemed  it  neces- 
sary or  desirable,  and  report  the  result  to  the  vestry  with  any  plans 
which  they  might  think  expedient  for  the  disposal  of  the  pews  in  the 
church.  The  committee  having  consulted  counsel  reported  his 
opinion  February  14,  1867,  to  the  effect  that  neither  the  late  pew- 
holders  nor  the  contributors  to  the  reconstruction  of  the  edifice  have 
any  legal  claim  on  the  pews  in  the  reconstructed  church,  nor  in  the 
appropriation  of  the  insurance  money.     The  counsel,  however,  ad- 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  237 

vised  that  some  recognition  of  such  parties  should  be  made  in  the 
disposition  of  the  pews  in  the  new  church.  The  committee  had  not 
yet  been  able,  however,  to  formulate  a  plan  in  accordance  with  this 
opinion  for  the  disposal  of  the  pews,  but  reported  progress  and 
would  present  a  plan  likely  to  prove  satisfactory  to  the  whole 
congregation  at  the  next  meeting.  Accordingly  on  March  14th  they 
presented  a  carefully  digested  plan  by  which  the  valuation  of  pews 
was  increased  about  fifty  per  cent.,  the  original  owners  were  to  have 
choice  of  the  pew  mostly  corresponding  to  their  old  location,  paying 
the  difference  between  the  old  price  and  the  new,  and  sums  con- 
tributed to  the  reconstruction  of  the  church  were  to  be  allowed  in 
payment.  There  were  198  pews  on  the  ground  floor  and  eighty  in  the 
gallery,  being  fifteen  less  than  in  the  former  church.  The  highest 
priced  pews  were  $1,200  each  on  the  ground  floor  and  the  lowest 
$125;  in  the  gallery,  the  highest  figure  was  $500  and  the  lowest 
$100.  The  increased  valuation  secured  a  larger  revenue  at  the 
original  eight  per  cent,  on  the  price  fixed  on  the  pews,  but  no  dis- 
satisfaction was  felt  on  this  account,  because  of  the  concessions  above 
noted  in  the  matter  of  payment  for  the  new  perpetual  leases  which 
were  issued  to  pew-holders. 

The  thanks  of  the  vestry  were  cordially  and  officially  given  to 
the  members  of  the  building  committee  "  for  their  long,  diligent, 
wise,  and  faithful  labors  and  care,  by  means  of  which  the  recon- 
struction of  the  church  has  been  successfully  accomplished." 
"  Grateful  acknowledgments  and  cordial  thanks  were  also  pre- 
sented to  the  special  committee  on  the  arrangement  of  titles  to 
pews  and  occupation  of  pews  in  the  church  for  the  great  labor  de- 
voted by  them  to  the  settlement  of  all  the  questions  thus  arising, 
and  for  the  wise,  forbearing,  skilful,  and  successful  manner  in  which 
they  have  accomplished  the  whole  arrangements  in  relation  to  these 
important  interests  to  the  promotion  of  the  entire  peace  and  har- 
mony of  the  congregation." 

As  a  mark  of  appreciation  of  the  ability  and  faithful  services  of 
Leopold  Eidlitz,  architect,  the  vestry  voted  him  a  special  appro- 
priation of  $1,000. 

r    Among  the  cherished  privileges  of  the  Evangelical  clergy  were 
/those  of  uniting  with  Christian  brethren  of  other  names  in  organiza- 
I  tions  like   the  American   Bible   Society  and  the   American    Tract 
\  Society,  of  manifesting  fraternal  sympathy  with  them  in  united 
'worship,  and  the  free  use  of  extemporaneous  prayer  on  other  oc- 
casions than  the  regular  public  worship  of  the  church.     The  Bishop 


238  HISTORY     OP     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

of  New  York  in  1865  issued  a  pastoral  letter  having,  as  he  stated, 
"  been  again  and  again  appealed  to  by  both  clergymen  and  lay- 
men, who  are  not  apt  to  be  busybodies  or  censorious,  to  do  something 
to  check  the  evil,"  in  which  he  condemned  the  practices  referred 
to  and  charged  the  clergy  who  participated  in  them  with  some  \'io- 
lation  of  their  ordination  vows.  Replies  from  divers  of  the  clergy 
were  prompt  and  forcible.  The  rector  of  St.  George's,  in  a  long 
letter  to  the  Bishop,  repudiated  utterly  the  allegation  of  disloyalty 
to  Church  and  law,  expressed  surprise  that  the  Bishop  should  have 
ranged  himself  on  the  side  of  partisan  exclusiveness  as  against  those 
who  had  been  mainly  instrumental  in  electing  him  and  who  had 
cordially  supported  his  administration,  asserted  that  the  High 
Church  position  thus  maintained  was  a  novelty  in  doctrine  and 
practice  both  in  the  Protestant  Church  in  England  and  in  this  coun- 
try, and  appealed  to  history  to  show  that  neither  Bishops  White, 
nor  Madison,  nor  Bass,  nor  Provoost,  nor  Moore,  nor  Griswold, 
had  antagonized  the  liberty  which  the  Evangelical  clergy  had  en- 
joyed. 

It  was  within  two  years  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr., 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  New  Y^ork,  w^hile  visit- 
ing in  the  summer  home  of  one  of  his  parishioners  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, New  Jersey,  accepted  an  invitation  to  preach  in  a  Methodist 
Church  in  that  place.  The  Rev.  Drs.  Stubbs  and  Boggs  having 
served  notice  of  objection  on  the  ground  that  New  Brunswick  con- 
stituted their  joint  parochial  cure,  the  offender  was  cited  to  appear 
for  trial  before  a  Board  of  Presbyters  appointed,  in  the  absence  of  the 
Bishop  abroad,  by  the  Standing  Committee  of  New  York,  and  which 
convened  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  New  York  in  January,  1868.  The 
case  attracted  great  attention.  The  rector  of  St.  George 's,  feeling  that 
this  was  "  an  attack  on  him  in  the  person  of  his  son,"  entered  into 
the  defense  with  earnestness  and  determination  as  one  of  the  counsel 
with  Mr.  Cortlandt  Parker,  of  New  Jersey,  and  IVIr.  Charles  Tracy, 
of  St.  George's  vestrj'-.  He  prepared  an  exhaustive  argument  and 
review  of  the  case,  in  which  he  forcibly  protested  against  the  false 
assumptions  of  law  and  the  injustice  of  the  whole  proceedings. 
Particularly  he  showed  that  there  had  been  no  such  intrusion  into  the 
cures  of  the  complainants  as  was  forbidden  by  the  canon,  and  that 
the  interpretation  put  upon  it  by  the  prosecution  was  contrary  to 
all  precedent  and  subversive  of  the  rightful  liberty  of  preaching. 
But  the  strict  constructionists  of  the  diocese  clamored  for  convic- 
tion ;  a  sentence  of  guilty  was  rendered  and  public  admonition  as  a 
penalty  was  administered  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  Jr.,  on  the  14th 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  239 

of  March,  1868,  in  the  Church  of  the  Transfiguration,  New  York,  his 
father  at  the  time  handing  a  written  protest  to  the  Bishop. 

This  official  condemnation  of  "  the  liberty  of  preaching  "  was 
soon  followed  by  an  attempt  at  restricting  that  other  liberty  steadily 
contended  for  by  the  Evangelical  party,  "  the  voluntary  principle 
in  giving." 

It  was  at  the  session  of  the  Diocesan  Convention  of  1867  that 
the  dominant  party  in  the  Church  undertook  to  force  all  parishes 
in  the  diocese  to  contribute  to  certain  specified  objects,  under  penalty 
of  forfeiture  of  connection  with  the  Convention  and  the  right  to 
send  delegates  to  the  same.  As  St.  George's  had  always  stood  for 
the  voluntary  principle  in  giving,  involving  the  right  to  contribute 
its  money  through  such  channels  and  in  support  of  such  objects 
as  commended  themselves  to  its  judgment  and  sympathies,  it  might 
naturally  be  expected  to  resent  this  attempt  to  dictate  the  direction 
of  its  offerings.  The  vestry  accordingly,  January  14,  1869,  when 
the  above  action  was  brought  to  their  attention,  appointed  its  dele- 
gates to  the  last  Convention  a  special  committee  to  examine  into 
and  report  upon  the  matter.  Within  a  month  the  committee  pre- 
pared and  presented  an  exhaustive  report  which  embodied  the 
following  facts,  that  Canon  XV  had  been  amended  so  as  to  require 
an  annual  collection  for  certain  specified  objects,  and  that  Canon 
IV  had  been  so  amended  as  to  impose  the  penalty  of  forfeiture  of 
connection  with  the  Convention  in  default  of  making  any  or  either 
of  the  collections  required.     The  committee  argued  that 

the  Constitution  of  the  Diocese  gives  no  authority  to  the  Convention  to 
control  the  Churches  in  resjoeet  of  their  charities,  by  specifying  particular 
objects  for  which  offering's  shall  be  made,  nor  any  power  to  exclude  a 
Church  for  omitting  to  take  collections  for  such  specified  object.  The 
amendment  of  Canon  IV  by  the  Convention  of  1867,  was  therefore  whoUy 
unauthorized  and  is  null  and  void.  The  Constitution  provides  a  method 
for  properly  amending  its  own  pro\asions,  but  no  amendment  of  the  Con- 
stitution has  been  made  conferring  on  the  Convention  power  to  enact  as 
a  law  such  a  requirement  as  this  provision  of  Canon  IV.  The  Convention 
has  not  and  cannot  have  constitutional  power  to  require  a  Church  to  take 
up  a  collection  in  aid  of  St.  Stephen's  College  Annandale,  or  the  Phila- 
delphia Divinity  School;  for  the  Missionary'  Committee  of  the  Convention, 
or  the  Diocesan  Committee  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  The  ab- 
solute and  ultimate  right  and  duty  of  each  member  of  the  Church  to  choose 
between  such  ultimate  objects,  according  to  his  own  judg-ment,  is  no  clearer 
than  the  right  of  each  parish  in  a  body,  in  appointing  collections  for 
education  and  for  missions,  to  discriminate  between  different  organizations 
and  agencies  through  which  its  offerings  shall  be  api^lied.  The  existence 
of  this  amendment  in  the  form  of  a  canon  renders  it  expedient  that  this 


240  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Vestry  both  assert  its  right  in  the  premises  and  also  gTiard  against  beyig 
wrongfully  deprived  of  its  just  representation  under  cover  of  legislation. 

The  committee  therefore  recommended  the  adoption  of  a  preamble 
reciting  the  above  facts  and  argument  and  the  following  resolutions : 

That  in  the  judgment  of  this  vestry,  the  above-mentioned  amendments 
of  Canon  IV.  and  the  provisions  of  Canon  XV.  were  and  are  unauthorized 
by  the  said  Constitution  and  repugnant  thereto;  and  the  same  are  an 
infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  Churches,  and  are  not  valid  amendments 
of  the  Canons  of  this  diocese,  and  of  right  should  be  held,  deemed,  and 
treated  as  null  and  void. 

That  in  order  to  promote  the  peace  of  the  Convention  and  Diocese,  as 
well  as  to  prevent  any  illegal  attempts  which  might  be  made  to  deprive 
this  Church  of  its  rightful  and  Constitutional  representation  in  future 
Conventions  imder  color  of  said  amendments  and  provisions  of  the  Canons, 
collections  may  be  taken  up  in  the  usual  manner  for  said  two  specified 
bodies,  '  The  Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and  Learning  in  the  State 
of  New  York '  and  '  the  Missionary  Committee  of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York,'  upon  some  Sundays  before  the  next  annual  Convention,  the  vestry 
hereby  protesting  that  said  amendments  are  in  their  judgment  unconstitu- 
tional, unauthorized,  wrongful,  and  void,  and  that  the  taking'  of  such  col- 
lections shall  not  be  construed  to  express  or  imply  any  assent  to  such 
amendments. 

This  report  was  dated  January  30,  1869,  and  signed  by  Charles 
Tracy,  Adolphus  Lane,  and  George  C.  Satterlee.  The  vestry  having 
adopted  the  resolutions.  Dr.  Tyng  made  the  two  collections  in  the 
church  during  the  following  month,  explaining,  however,  the  reasons 
and  circumstances  under  which  they  were  made,  and  reported  to 
the  vestry  that  he  had  paid  over  the  amounts  of  the  collections  to 
the  respective  treasurers  of  these  societies  and  held  their  receipts 
for  the  same. 

A  further  report  was  made  on  this  subject  in  November,  1870, 
by  the  delegates  to  the  convention  of  that  year,  to  the  effect  that  in 
1869  a  motion  was  made  and  notice  given  by  a  delegate  from  this 
Church  for  the  repeal  of  the  objectionable  amendments  to  the  canons, 
which  under  the  rules  were  referred  to  the  standing  committee  on 
canons  and  went  over  to  the  convention  of  1870,  recently  held, — 
which  committee  was  supplied  with  printed  copies  of  the  report  of 
January  30,  1869,  and  the  action  of  the  vestry  of  St.  George's 
thereon.  At  this  convention  the  committee  on  canons  reported 
against  repealing  the  parts  of  Canon  XV  providing  for  particular 
collections,  but  in  favor  of  repealing  that  part  of  Canon  IV,  which 
imposes  a  penalty  for  omitting  these  collections.  The  repealing 
amendment  was  adopted  by  the  convention,  and  it  being  perfectly 
understood  and  expressed  in  the  convention  that  the  specification 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  241 

of  objects  in  Canon  XV  had  no  other  force  than  mere  advice,  being 
without  a  penalty  for  violation,  the  delegates  from  St.  George's  did 
not  deem  it  necessary  or  advisable  to  press  for  an  amendment  of 
Canon  XV.  They  recommended  to  the  vestry,  however,  that  the 
reason  for  the  temporary  provision  for  the  objectionable  collections 
being  no  longer  operative,  they  be  discontinued  in  this  church ;  which 
recommendation  was  confirmed  by  the  vestry. 

It  may  be  noted  that,  as  a  vindication  of  their  independence  in 
giving,  the  annual  appropriation  of  $250  for  the  salary  of  the  bishop 
was  always  voted  "  as  a  voluntary  contribution  from  this  corpora- 
tion." 

The  Rev.  W.  N.  McVickar  was  appointed  assistant  from  May  1, 
1868,  at  $1,000,  continuing  in  this  office  till  October  in  the  same 
year.  The  Rev.  Morris  A.  Tyng  was  appointed  his  successor  from 
November  1st. 

The  organist,  W.  Francis  Williams,  received  an  addition  of  $200 
to  his  salary  in  May,  1868,  and  $500  additional  was  appropriated 
for  the  choir. 

The  committee  on  organ,  consisting  of  the  music  committee  with 
the  addition  of  Mr.  W.  T.  Blodgett,  were  at  the  same  time  authorized 
to  procure  and  present  to  the  vestry  a  schedule  for  an  organ  for 
the  church.  They  subsequently  reported  that  they  had  received 
propositions  on  the  basis  of  a  cost  of  $12,000  from  six  different 
builders,  and  had  caused  copies  of  the  specifications  without  the 
names  of  the  proposers  to  be  examined  by  a  competent  musician 
and  taken  his  judgment  thereon,  and  that  the  proposition  of  George 
Jardine  and  Son  appeared  to  the  committee  to  be  the  most  advan- 
tageous and  satisfactory.  The  committee  was  thereupon  authorized 
to  contract  with  George  Jardine  and  Son  for  the  building,  com- 
pletion, and  erection  in  the  church  of  an  organ  according  to  the 
specifications,  including  the  necessary  case  and  the  ornamentation 
thereof  and  of  the  pipes  upon  a  scheme  to  be  settled  upon  by  agree- 
ment with  Leopold  Eidlitz,  the  architect  of  the  church,  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  committee,  for  the  sum  of  $12,000  and  the  old 
organ  now  in  the  church. 

The  architect  and  the  organ-builders  not  being  able  to  agree 
upon  a  style  of  case  to  be  erected  at  the  latter 's  expense,  within 
their  contract,  the  vestry  finally  authorized,  with  the  consent  of  the 
organ-builders,  the  execution  of  a  new  contract  with  them  for  the 
organ  only  at  the  stipulated  price  of  $12,000,  the  old  organ  to  be 
taken  by  them  in  part  payment  at  an  estimated  value  of  $1,500. 

16 


242  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

A  separate  contract  was  authorized  to  be  made  with  Herter  Brothers 
for  the  case  and  ornamentation  as  designed  by  Mr.  Eidlitz  at  a  cost 
of  $2,500.  The  organ  was  accordingly  completed  and  in  use  in 
1869,  the  organist,  Mr.  Williams,  having  professionally  examined 
it  in  every  detail  and  certified  to  its  conformity  to  contract. 

In  April,  1869,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Schramm  having  resigned 
the  charge  of  the  German  Mission  Chapel,  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Fleisch- 
hacker  was  appointed  in  his  place,  and  the  vestry  ordered  the  pay- 
ment of  $272.95  to  defray  his  expenses  in  removing  from  Ohio. 

The  relation  of  the  attendants  upon  the  worship  at  its  mission 
chapels  to  the  corporation  of  St.  George's,  appearing  to  require 
some  definition,  the  subject  was  referred  to  a  special  committee  con- 
sisting of  Charles  Tracy  and  David  Dows.  Their  report,  presented 
March  10,  1870,  was  an  exhaustive  resume  of  the  acts  of  the  Legis- 
lature relating  to  religious  corporations  and  the  legal  bearing  of  the 
same  upon  St.  George's  free  chapels;  and  they  reached  the  con- 
clusion, which  was  confirmed  by  the  vestry,  "  that  persons  attend- 
ing upon  the  public  worship  in  the  free  chapels  of  this  Church,  or 
otherwise  claiming  in  any  manner  to  be  connected  with  any  such 
chapel,  are  not  by  reason  of  such  attendance  or  claim  entitled  to 
vote  at  elections  of  the  corporation  or  to  exercise  any  powers  of 
corporators  therein." 

During  the  summer  of  1869,  the  chancel  of  the  church  was  deco- 
rated by  Cohn,  after  designs  ])y  Eidlitz,  at  a  cost  of  $1,950.  Quite 
extensive  repairs  to  the  side  galleries  of  the  church  had  been  found 
necessary,  owing  to  the  inferior  quality  of  the  supporting  columns 
and  culpably  careless  construction,  which  had  resulted  in  a  partial 
sinking  of  the  gallery  lines.  The  cost  of  new  columns  and  the 
work  of  bringing  back  the  galleries  to  their  original  position  was 
about  $2,500. 

The  year  1870  completed  a  quarter  century  of  Dr.  Tyng's  rector- 
ship and  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age.  No  failure  of  strength  in 
mind  or  body  was  as  yet  apparent,  and  his  retrospective  sermon, 
commemorative  of  the  two  anniversaries,  which  were  nearly  co- 
incident, was  full  of  thankfulness  for  the  past  and  present,  and 
hopefulness  for  the  future. 

The  investments  of  the  church  at  this  time,  with  its  cash  balance, 
amounted  to  $106,292.56.  The  estimated  receipts  for  the  year  were 
$24,000  and  the  expenses  $23,267,  including  $10,000  for  the  rector, 
$1,000  for  the  assistant,  $4,000  for  music,  and  $2,250  for  repairs  and 
taxes.  The  Rev.  C.  S.  Stephenson  resigned  the  charge  of  the  Chapel 
of  Free  Grace  from  May,  1871,  and  the  Rev.  J,  Eastburn  Brown 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  243 

became  his  successor  in  the  following  month,  the  Rev.  John  F.  Steen 
having  meanwhile  been  offered  the  position,  which  he  declined. 
The  trustees  of  the  chapel  presented  Mr.  Stephenson  the  sum  of 
$500  as  a  token  of  their  grateful  respect  and  affection.  The  Rev. 
J.  Crockar  White,  who  had  assisted  the  rector  since  May  1st,  re- 
signed November  1st  to  accept  a  call  to  St.  John's  Church,  Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

The  condition  of  the  north  spire  of  the  church  having  caused  some 
anxiety,  three  competent  architects  were  employed  in  the  spring  of 
1871  to  examine  it.  They  reported  that  the  stone  which  had  been 
affected  by  the  fire  was  liable  to  injury  by  frost  and  had  spawled 
off  in  several  places ;  but  that  any  further  injury  could  be  prevented 
by  inclosing  the  open  spaces  in  the  lantern  in  such  a  way  that  fresh 
action  of  the  frost  on  its  interior  surfaces  would  be  prevented,  and 
that  the  whole  structure  was  at  present  entirely  substantial  and 
secure.     The  suggested  work  was  done  at  a  cost  of  $1,460. 

The  German  Mission  in  P'ourteenth  Street  had  so  outgrown  its 
accommodations  as  to  suggest  the  advisability  of  finding  a  new  and 
larger  site  for  its  use.  During  the  summer  of  1871,  the  purchase 
of  the  property  located  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Avenue  C  and 
Fourth  Street,  with  a  church  building  upon  it,  was  favorably  con- 
sidered; and  in  September  a  contract  was  entered  into  to  purchase 
the  same  for  $48,500.  The  title  to  the  property,  however,  proved  on 
examination  to  be  defective  and  the  contract  was  canceled.  In  the 
spring  of  1872  a  piece  of  ground  25X50  feet,  lying  immediately 
in  the  rear  of  the  German  chapel  lot  on  Fourteenth  Street,  was 
purchased  for  $2,250,  and  steps  were  taken  without  delay  for  en- 
larging and  remodeling  the  chapel.  It  was  found,  however,  that 
the  condition  of  the  building  would  not  justify  the  contemplated 
improvements  upon  it  and  that  the  wiser  course  would  be  to  build 
entirely  anew.  The  plan  for  a  good  and  substantial  chapel  prepared 
by  Mr.  Eidlitz  was  adopted  and  the  work  begun.  Delays,  however, 
ensued  through  the  necessity  of  driving  piles  for  the  new  founda- 
tion, and  the  "  eight-hour  dai^,"  which  the  mechanics  insisted  upon; 
so  that  the  building  was  not  completed  until  December.  The  cost 
of  the  chapel  was  $39,512.62;  the  furniture  and  fixtures  cost 
$4,214.87;  for  the  rent  of  a  hall  in  the  Ph^mpton  Building,  corner 
of  Eighth  Street  and  Astor  Place,  for  the  use  of  the  mission  during 
the  erection  of  the  chapel  and  for  some  other  expenses,  $512.42  was 
paid,  making  the  total  outlay  $44,239.91. 

In  April,  1872,  the  rector  expressed  his  desire  to  spend  a  short 
time  in  Europe.    The  vestry  gave  him  leave  of  absence  and  directed 


244  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

that  the  $1,500  appropriated  in  the  resolution  of  January  21,  1864, 
be  now  paid  to  him.  On  his  first  visit  to  England,  in  1842,  he  had 
appeared  at  the  May  anniversaries  as  a  representative  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  and  Tract  and  other  societies,  as  his  predecessor.  Dr. 
Milnor,  had  done  before  him.  He  was  now  requested  again  to  act 
as  their  delegate  to  the  kindred  societies  across  the  sea.  He  was 
received  with  the  utmost  cordiality,  made  numerous  addresses, 
thoroughly  enjoyed  meeting  old  and  valued  friends,  and  sailed  for 
home  on  the  15th  of  June.  The  Rev.  Matson  Meier-Smith  had 
officiated  during  his  absence,  having  been  appointed  assistant  from 
May  1st,  and  left  November  1st  to  become  rector  of  St.  John's 
Church,  Hartford. 

As  absence  of  the  rector  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New 
York  leaves  a  vestry  without  a  lawful  quorum,  it  was  resolved  at 
this  same  meeting  at  which  leave  of  absence  was  granted,  April  15, 
1872,  to  appoint  an  Executive  Committee  consisting  of  the  entire 
lay  membership  of  the  vestry,  who  were  empowered  to  transact  all 
the  ordinary  business  of  the  Corporation  and  report  their  proceed- 
ings to  the  vestry  at  its  first  legal  meeting  thereafter  for  ratifica- 
tion. This  arrangement  was  found  to  have  so  many  practical  ad- 
vantages that  it  was  continued  from  year  to  year. 

The  Committee  on  Property,  at  the  vestry  meeting  on  March 
13,  1873,  stated  that  it  had  been  thought  desirable  to  examine  the 
question  of  the  title  of  this  Corporation  to  the  land  on  which  our 
church  edifice  stands.  They  had  accordingly  secured  opinions  from 
Charles  Tracy,  Esq.,  and  Judge  James  Emott,  which,  together  with 
a  copy  of  the  deed  of  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant  to  the  corporation,  they 
presented  with  a  request  that  these  papers  be  entered  at  length  upon 
the  minutes.  The  conclusion  of  Mr.  Tracy's  opinion,  which  proved 
to  be  substantially  identical  with  that  of  Judge  Emott,  is  in  these 
words:  "  My  conclusion  therefore  is,  that  the  deed  as  it  stands 
conveys  an  absolute  fee  simple  in  the  land,  clogged  by  no  condition, 
charged  with  no  trust,  and  restricted  by  no  covenant ;  and  that  the 
church  corporation,  by  leave  of  the  court  obtained  in  the  usual 
manner,  can  make  a  valid  conveyance  of  the  property  by  deed  or 
mortgage." 

The  possibility  of  a  future  removal  of  St.  George's  Church  had 
doubtless  presented  itself  to  many  minds,  and  it  was  wise  in  any 
case  to  be  assured  of  the  indefeasibility  of  the  title  under  which  the 
property  was  held.  The  neighborhood  was  changing  in  its  char- 
acter. Valued  parishioners  were  moving  on  up-town  or  to  the  sub- 
urbs.    Surrender  of  pews  was  not  infrequent.     The   parish   rev- 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  245 

enues  were  slowly  dwindling.  Nor  did  the  panic  of  September, 
1873,  with  its  severe  financial  stress,  help  matters  in  the  least.  The 
treasurer's  report  at  Easter,  1874,  showed  that  the  current  expenses 
of  the  corporation  had  exceeded  its  regular  income  by  $4,559.56; 
and  that  of  the  revenue  for  the  year  now  ending,  $13,000,  and  the 
arrears  of  pew  rent  for  the  preceding  year  $3,000,  only  $8,759.08 
had  been  collected,  with  $3,000  more  regarded  as  collectible.  The 
receipt  of  $2,650  for  a  quitclaim  deed  of  a  lot  formerly  sold,  and 
$1,401.86,  being  the  share  of  St.  George's  with  interest  in  the  $5,000 
reserve  fund,  retained  by  Phelps,  Dodge,  &  Company,  on  the  sale  to 
them  of  the  Beekman  Street  property,  reduced  somewhat  the  de- 
ficiency in  the  current  account.  On  the  old  scale  of  expenses  and 
should  all  the  prospective  income  be  received,  there  would  be  a 
deficiency  for  the  current  year  of  about  $3,000, — a  fact  very  sug- 
gestive of  the  necessity  of  reducing  expenses  or  devising  means  of 
increasing  the  revenue.  The  treasurer's  suggestion  of  increasing 
the  assessments  on  the  pews  did  not  meet  with  favor. 

The  executive  committee,  which  consisted  of  the  lay  members  of 
the  vestry,  had  been  for  some  time  considering  the  advisability  and 
practicability  of  establishing  a  new  church  for  St.  George's  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  city,  and  at  its  meeting  held  February  19,  1874, 
Mr.  Tracy  stated  that  he  had  prepared  a  preamble  and  outline  of 
plan  for  establishing  a  new  church  for  this  corporation,  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  city,  which  he  believed  embraced  the  most  prac- 
ticable suggestions  made  from  time  to  time  by  members  of  this 
committee.  Upon  request  the  document  was  presented,  considered, 
and  amended  so  as  to  read  as  follows : 

Whereas  some  members  of  our  cong'reg'ation  have  removed  from  the 
vicinity  of  the  church  on  Stuyvesant  Square,  to  more  northerly  parts  of  the 
city,  and  thei'e  is  a  prevailing  tendency  to  seek  residences  in  that  direction ; 
and  it  is  evident  that  new  church  accommodations  at  a  point  convenient 
for  the  congregation,  and  others  who  may  wish  to  join  it,  must  be  i^rovided 
soon  or  the  future  usefulness  of  St.  George's  Church  will  be  gradually 
lessened ;  and  in  the  judgTuent  of  this  committee  measures  ought  to  be 
taken  immediately  to  acquire  lands  for  such  new  church,  and  to  establish, 
at  as  early  a  day  in  the  present  year  as  may  be  practicable,  a  temporary 
chapel  in  the  same  vicinity,  and  to  i:>rovide  for  the  consequent  increase 
of  ministerial  sendee; 

And  whereas  it  is  desirable  to  determine  in  advance  the  general  features 
of  the  enterpi'ise  and  fix  on  a  plan  to  be  followed  in  the  main,  with  such 
changes  as  may  be  found  needful  as  the  work  proceeds; 

Therefore  resolved  that  the  following  be  adopted  as  an  outline  of  such 
plan: 

First. — Purchase  a  site  for  the  new  church,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city, 
sufficiently  large  to  answer  the  requirements  of  this  corporation. 


246  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Second. — Immediately  provide  a  temporary  chapel  on  or  near  tlie  same 
site,  with  seats  for  about  eight  hundred  to  one  thousand  people. 

Third. — Call  an  associate  rector  with  permanent  settlement. 

Fourth. — Maintain  public  worship  in  the  present  church,  and  also  in  the 
temporary  chajiel;  the  rector  officiating  at  each  once  on  every  Sunday, 
taking  his  choice  of  the  place,  and  the  associate  taking  the  alternate  place. 

Fifth. — The  sittings  in  the  temporary  chapel  to  be  rented. 

Sixth. — Make  the  first  payments  for  the  site,  and  the  cost  of  the  chapel, 
by  money  borrowed  on  the  bonds  of  this  corporation  without  mortgage. 

Seventh. — Apjjly  the  rent  of  the  chapel  sittings  toward  its  expenses,  in- 
cluding the  associate  rector's  salary. 

Eighth. — This  corporation  declares  the  temporary  chapel  to  be  a  tem- 
porary measure,  and  therefore  it  will  proceed  to  the  erection  of  the  new 
church  with  as  little  delay  as  practicable. 

Nitith. — When  the  new  church  is  completed,  relinquish  the  temporary 
chapel,  and  maintain  public  servaee  in  both  churches. 

Tenth. — The  present  fund  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  is  to  be  pre- 
served for  the  support  of  the  jjresent  church  in  accordance  with  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  vestrj'  adopted  March  13,  1851. 

The  executive  committee  adopted  the  preamble  and  each  article 
of  the  resolution  separately  and  unanimously,  and  appointed  Messrs. 
Blodgett,  Morgan,  and  Spencer  a  sub-committee,  with  -power  to 
negotiate  for  lots  in  the  vicinity  of  Central  Park  and  Seventieth 
Street  for  the  contemplated  new  church;  and  requested  Mr.  Tracy 
to  prepare  a  form  of  bond  to  be  issued  by  the  corporation  of  St. 
George's  Church  in  furtherance  of  the  proposed  measure. 

At  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  committee  the  sub-committee 
reported  that  upon  the  examination  of  various  plots  submitted  to 
them,  they  were  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the  lots  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  ]\Iadison  Avenue  and  Sixty-ninth  Street  would 
best  suit  the  purpose  of  this  corporation.  The  price  asked  for 
said  lots  was  as  follows:  100  feet  by  95  feet  on  Madison  Avenue 
and  120  feet  on  Sixty-ninth  Street  bj""  100  feet  deep  adjoining 
the  avenue  lots,  making  in  all  100X215  feet  for  $265,000,  and  for 
about  $37,000  thirty  feet  additional  on  Sixty-ninth  Street  could  be 
purchased. 

This  entire  action  being  reported  to  the  vestry  by  the  executive 
committee,  its  action  was  formally  approved  and  the  report  ordered 
to  be  entered  at  length  on  the  minutes.  At  a  later  date  a  proposal 
of  ten  lots  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Seventy-second  Street  and 
Madison  Avenue  was  submitted  to  the  vestry,  the  price  being 
$275,000;  and  one,  from  the  same  owner,  of  lots  on  the  corner  of 
Seventy-first  Street  and  Madison  Avenue  for  $230,000. 

After  the  adoption  by  the  vestry  on  the  12th  of  March,  1874,  of 
the  ' '  Outline  ' '  then  proposed  for  the  establishment  of  a  new  church 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  247 

in  a  more  northerly  part  of  the  city,  the  executive  committee  gave 
much  attention  to  the  selection  of  a  location,  the  price  of  lots,  the 
cost  of  building,  and  the  obtaining  of  the  necessary  means.  But  on 
the  11th  of  February,  1875,  the  committee  reported  that  the  result 
thus  far  had  been  unfavorable  to  the  enterprise  and  had  compelled 
the  committee  to  suspend  the  consideration  of  it  for  the  present 
and  await  a  better  opportunity  for  its  prosecution. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  rector  and  all  the  members  of  the  vestry 
had  fixed  upon  the  Rev.  Charles  Dallas  Marston,  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Onslow  Square,  London,  as  the  desirable  person  to  be 
brought  into  the  ministry  of  St.  George's,  to  act  jointly  with  the 
present  rector,  and  on  his  demise  to  succeed  to  the  rectorship.  The 
hope  was  furthermore  entertained,  that  Mr.  Marston 's  labors  in  the 
present  church  would  prove  generally  acceptable,  and  that  his  es- 
tablishment here,  combined  with  the  continuing  ability  of  the  rector, 
would  so  assure  the  future  of  the  congregation  as  to  induce  the 
necessary  liberality  in  regard  to  the  new  church  when  the  subject 
of  its  erection  is  again  entertained.  A  call  was  accordingly  extended 
to  Mr.  Marston  to  become  associate  rector  with  succession  to  the 
rectorship,  at  a  salary  of  six  thousand  dollars  per  year  and  a  suitable 
dwelling-house.  The  wardens  and  the  two  senior  vestrymen  were 
charged  with  the  duty  of  communicating  the  call,  and  the  rector 
was  requested  to  write  to  Mr.  Marston,  with  whom  he  had  long 
maintained  an  affectionate  relation,  informing  him  of  the  unanimity 
and  cordiality  with  which  the  invitation  was  extended  and  assuring 
him  of  the  hearty  co-operation  he  would  receive  in  his  work.  It 
was  a  pleasing  duty  to  thus  write  to  one  who  had  received  his  first 
religious  instruction  in  Dr.  Tyng's  Sunday-school,  and  to  whom  he 
felt  he  could  safely  and  gladly  commit  the  undivided  work  at  St. 
George's  when  their  joint  labors  should  have  ended.  It  was  a 
grievous  disappointment,  therefore,  to  receive  his  declination  of  the 
call,  based  upon  family  reasons  and  the  conviction  that  London 
was  his  appointed  ministerial  sphere.  If  any  had  indulged  the  hope 
that  Mr.  Marston  might  be  induced  to  reconsider  his  decision,  his 
sad  and  sudden  death  only  a  few  months  later  cut  off  that  pos- 
sibility. 

At  the  May  meeting,  1875,  the  vestry  seriously  addressed  them- 
selves to  the  unpleasant  task  of  trying  to  adjust  expenditures  to 
the  probable  income  of  the  opening  year,  reported  by  the  treasurer 
as  $18,440.  The  extra  appropriation  to  the  rector  was  reduced  to 
$3,000  in  addition  to  the  salary  of  $4,000;  the  organist  and  choir 
were  cut  from  $4,000  to  $2,500;  even  the  insarance  was  somewhat 


248  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

lessened;  so  that  with  reductions  all  along  the  line,  the  estimated 
outgo  was  ])rought  down  to  $18,810. 

It  was  in  the  gloom  and  difficulty  of  these  trying  circumstances, 
that  the  rector  preached  his  thirtieth  anniversary  discourse.  The 
aptness  of  his  text  is  striking.  It  was  Philippians  IV.,  11  to  13 : 
"  I  have  learned  in  whotsoever  state  I  am,  therewith  to  be  content. 
I  know  both  how  to  be  abased  and  I  know  how  to  abound.  Every- 
where and  in  all  things  I  am  instructed  both  to  be  full  and  to  be 
hungry;  both  to  abound  and  to  suffer  need;  I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  w^hich  strengtheneth  me." 

As  this  was  the  last  public  summing-up  of  his  own  ministry  which 
he  was  privileged  to  make,  a  liberal  outline  of  the  facts  detailed 
should  be  presented  here.    He  said,  in  part : 

By  the  Divine  permission  I  propose  this  day  to  take  a  survey  of  the 
history  of  these  thirty  years  in  the  Lord's  work,  and  I  would  do  this  in  the 
spirit  of  the  apostle's  statement,  calmly,  thankfully,  contentedly  looking 
back  over  the  whole,  and  looking  upward  and  forward  to  the  glorious  re- 
sult approaching,  which  the  apostle  so  eanaestly  describes  in  his  contempo- 
raneous letter  to  his  son  Timothy,  as  remaining  not  for  him  alone,  but  for 
all  them,  also,  who  love  the  Lord's  appearing :  '  Henceforth  there  is  laid 
up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge, 
shall  give  me  in  that  day.' 

In  the  outward  aspects  of  this  great  enterprise,  as  seen  and  known  of 
men,  and  as  judged  by  human  standards  of  thought  and  estimation,  we 
have  gone  through  the  alternations  which  Paul  describes,  as  included  in  this 
experience  of  thirty  years  in  the  work  of  the  Lord  in  His  outward  Church. 
"We  have  seen  for  many  succeeding  years  large  crowds  of  hearers  and  wor- 
shippers completely  filling  this  glorious  edifice,  silently,  intently  listening 
to  the  truth  of  God.  We  have  seen  as  large,  regular,  pecuniary,  material 
support  statedly  realized  here,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  ministrations 
of  the  gospel,  as  probably  have  ever  been  known  in  any  other  church  in  this 
country.  We  have  seen  established  a  scheme  of  local  missions  among  the 
poor  in  our  own  vicinage,  which  liave  been  an  original  pattern  that  many 
others  have  subsequently  gratefully  imitated,  but  which  in  their  extent 
and  outlay  no  other  church  has  yet  exceeded.  We  have  seen  Sunday-schools 
here  gathered  and  maintained,  which  have  been  gratefully  acknowledged 
and  admired  by  all  the  people  of  God  throughout  the  churches  of  this 
nation,  but  which  in  their  years  of  prosperity  have  been  exceeded  by  none, 
perhaps  equalled  by  few,  of  these  churches,  in  any  ecclesiastical  connection. 
We  have  seen  an  organized  and  consistent  system  of  pecuniary  beneficence 
maintained  with  facility  and  with  unceasing  success  and  perseverance, 
which  has  been  a  subject  of  wonder  and  gratitude  among  our  fellow- 
Christians  around  us.  We  have  beheld  the  Lord's  gracious  work  of  per- 
sonal salvation  among  the  families  and  the  souls  to  wliora  we  have  been 
permitted  to  minister,  continually  prospering,  and  to  a  degree  which  has 
called  forth  and  employed  our  unceasing  thanksgiving  and  delight. 

We  have  witnessed  a  unity  of  sentiment,  and  sympathy  of  taste  and 
feeling,  marking  the  action  and  arrangements  of  this  large  congregation; 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  249 

as  generally  controlling  and  as  little  violated  by  individual  purpose  or  con- 
viction as  has  probably  ever  been  witnessed  in  any  congregation  of  com- 
parative size.  This  whole  concrete  arrangement  may  well  be  distinguished 
as  a  line  of  unbroken  prosperity,  maintained  ui^on  the  highest  reasonable 
level,  and  as  elevated  and  abiding  as  can  be  wholesome  for  any  community 
of  Christian  people. 

Some  distinguishing  elements  of  this  historical  display  of  that  which 
St.  Paul  calls  '  abounding '  and  '  being  full,'  we  may  justly  and  gratefully 
recall,  as  tokens  of  the  gracious  favor  and  providence  under  which  we  have 
lived  in  tliis  united  relation.  They  comprise  discriminating  facts  of  the 
history  of  the  last  thirty  years,  which  have  made  the  period  of  our  con- 
nection as  a  pastor  and  a  i^eoi^le. 

I.  Our  benevolent  disj^ensations  in  money  in  this  period  have  amounted 
to  Nine  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  four  hundred  and  six  dollars  and 
eighty  cents,  giving  an  average  annual  dispensation  for  the  whole  period 
of  Thirty-two  thousand  and  eighty  dollars  and  twenty-eight  cents.  There 
has  been  in  this  evidence  of  our  advancing  prosperity  a  very  remarkable 
increase  in  the  annual  amoimt  of  gifts  bestowed. 

The  aggregate  of  the  First  decade  of  years  was  Seventy-seven  thousand 
and  ninety-seven  dollars,  or  an  annual  average  of  Seven  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  nine  dollars  and  seventy  cents.  The  aggregate  of  the  Second 
decade  was  Three  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  and  twenty-four  dol- 
lars, an  annual  average  of  Thirty-two  thousand  five  hundred  and  two 
dollars  and  forty  cents.  The  aggregate  of  the  Third  decade  has  been.  Five 
hundred  and  sixty  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  dollars,  an  annual 
average  of  Fifty-six  thousand  and  twenty-eight  dollars  and  forty  cents. 
Thus  may  we  be  said,  in  the  good  providence  of  God,  to  have  abounded 
in  our  means  of  liberal  effort  and  bestowal,  for  the  welfare  of  others,  in 
the  various  channels  which  the  goodness  of  God  has  laid  open  before  us. 

The  ladies  of  St.  George's  Church  constituted  a  Dorcas  Society  among 
themselves  soon  after  the  church  was  opened,  on  this  location,  which  has 
been  maintained  through  the  period  of  more  than  twenty-five  years  past. 
And  their  dispensation  has  been  most  abounding  and  regular,  of  garments 
prepared  by  themselves  and  under  their  inspection  for  the  children  of  the 
poor.  They  have  clothed  8,134  children,  with  26,360  garments  expressly 
prepared  for  this  distribution,  and  at  a  cost  of  $14,063.  They  have  dis- 
tributed more  than  10,000  jDairs  of  shoes,  at  an  average  cost  of  more  than 
one  dollar  per  pair,  among  these  children  of  the  poor.  Through  all  these 
years  this  merciful  work  has  gone  patiently  and  kindly  foi-ward,  and  still 
proceeds,  without  pretence  or  display,  like  the  dew  upon  the  grass,  fertiliz- 
ing but  not  distui'bing,  blessing  but  with  no  sound. 

In  another  most  important  department  of  Christian  work  we  have  main- 
tained, for  more  than  fifteen  years,  Three  Mission  Sunday-schools  and  their 
stated  public  worship  and  pastoral  agencies,  at  a  cost  never  less,  including 
all  the  demands  and  arrangements  involved,  than  $10,000  a  year,  or 
$150,000,  excluding  from  this  calculation  the  erection  of  three  Mission 
Chapel  buildings,  demanding  an  outlay  of  more  than  $80,000. 

When  from  these  outward  facts,  known  and  seen  by  all  and  measured 
by  actual  cost  in  money  expended,  we  turn  our  attention  to  some  other 
results  of  these  thirty  years  of  ministry,  the  evidences  of  that  wliieh  Paul 
calls  '  abounding '  are  not  less  remarkable. 

Another  most  important   element   of  our  '  abounding '   has  been  in   the 


250  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

record  of  our  Sunday-schools.  They  celebrate  their  twenty-sixth  anni- 
versary in  connection  with  this  location  at  this  Easter.  They  have  main- 
tained an  average  of  1,500  scholars  and  125  teachers  during  this  long 
period,  and  their  contributions  to  their  own  fund  of  beneficent  dispensa- 
tions have  exceeded  Eighty  thousand  dollars.  Their  fidelity  and  assiduity 
in  tliis  imjiortant  work  and  privilege  have  given  to  these  schools  a  reputa- 
tion and  influence  among  the  churches  of  our  country,  most  honorable  and 
valuable;  I  earnestly  hope  they  may  never  fail  or  come  short  of  such  a 
history. 

From  these  general  facts  and  results,  involved  in  our  history  as  a  church 
during  these  thirty  years,  I  turn  to  those  recorded  acts  of  personal  min- 
istry, which  have  been  especially  my  own.  I  have  admitted  to  the  Lord's 
table  as  communicants  in  this  church  1,604  persons.  I  have  presented 
for  confirmation,  to  the  Bishops  successively  officiating  among  us,  1,256. 
I  have  officiated  at  615  marriages.  1  have  administered  Baptism  to  1,061 
infants  and  adults. 

Of  my  own  loublic  offices  of  the  ministry  I  need  not  particularly  to  speak. 
It  has  been  a  cause  for  sincere  personal  thanksgiving  to  myself,  that  my 
health  and  strength  for  their  public  labors  have  been  so  remarkably  pre- 
served and  prolonged.  With  what  sincerity  and  truth  I  have  thus  labored 
among  you  I  must  leave  you  to  witness.  Of  your  generous  and  faithful 
personal  conduct  to  me,  I  should  be  most  imgrateful  not  to  bear  the  most 
decided  public  testimony  and  to  offer  the  most  grateful  acknowledgment. 
You  have  abundantly  ministered  to  my  wants  and  in  a  generous  measure 
provided  for  all  my  needs.  Fo^ir  times  have  you  assisted  me  liberally  in 
a  summer's  absence  and  journeying  in  Europe,  and  in  all  respects  have 
given  yourselves  a  name  and  repute  among  surrounding  churches,  in  your 
relations  to  ray  person  and  my  office  as  your  pastor,  which  have  redounded 
in  just  honor  upon  yourselves.  Personally  you  have  allowed  me  to  come 
behind  in  no  gift  which  was  within  your  power  to  supply,  and  collectively 
as  a  congregation  j'ou  have  been  in  all  these  relations  a  living  epistle  known 
and  read  of  all  men. 

This  has  been  an  '  abounding '  in  our  past  history,  in  all  its  branches  of 
manifestation.  God  has  been  very  gracious  to  us,  in  keeping  herej  in  all 
the  changing  circumstances  and  tendencies  of  this  enlarging  city,  a  con- 
gregation of  worshippers  and  hearers,  so  large  in  numbers,  so  constant  in 
attendance,  and  so  uncomplaining  in  habit  and  character.  For  these  many 
successive  years,  we  have  been  abounding  in  this  gift  also,  and  the  char- 
acter and  aspect  of  this  church,  under  this  peculiar  review  of  it,  have  been 
too  well  known,  and  too  generally  acknowledged,  to  be  doubted  by  any,  or 
need  testimony  from  any,  to  its  reality  and  worth.  To  bear  prosperity 
with  meekness,  to  receive  honor  without  boasting  or  self-esteem,  is  a  pe- 
culiar and  a  precious  gift.  This  gift  the  apostle  gratefully  says  he  had 
graciously  received.  He  had  been  divinely  instructed  and  divinely  enabled 
to  be  a  pattern  to  others  in  this  most  important  experience  of  self-control 
and  self-abnegation.  '  I  have  learned  in  whatsoever  state  I  am  therewith 
to  be  content.  I  know  how  to  be  abased  and  I  know  how  to  abound. 
Ever^T\-here  and  in  all  things,  I  am  instructed,  both  to  be  full  and  to  be 
hungry,  both  to  abound  and  to  suffer  need.  I  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ  who  strengthened  me.'  Gracious  is  such  a  lesson  in  providence. 
Precious  indeed  is  such  an  attainment  in  grace. 

The  trial  of  '  abounding '  we  have  passed.     The  trial  of  being  '  abased/ 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  251 

we  may  still  have  to  bear*,  to  what  extent,  our  gracious  Lord  alone  can 
tell  us.  But  many  facts  combine,  in  their  stubborn  witness,  to  testify  of 
the  things  which  are  yet  to  come. 

The  removal  of  large  numbers  of  families  in  their  residences,  either  to 
distant  and.  upjjer  parts  of  the  city,  or  to  the  surrounding  towns  and  vil- 
lages of  the  country,  has  already  so  reduced  the  number  of  stated  families, 
and  personal  attendants  upon  our  public  worship,  that  we  have  become 
but  a  remnant  of  Avhat  we  were,  and  there  appears  no  likelihood  of  the 
reversal  of  the  cuiTent,  or  of  a  change  in  this  respect  in  the  future.  Our 
attending  congregation  on  the  Sabbath  or  in  our  week  services,  which  last 
have  indeed  expired,  is  not  likely  to  increase.  Our  collections  for  benevo- 
lent dispensation  have  fallen  off  one-half.  Our  local  and  relative  demands 
in  our  public  work  thus  far  assumed,  have,  on  the  other  hand,  in  no  degree 
diminshed,  rather  have  manifestly  increased.  That  which  may  be  called 
our  attractiveness  to  the  general  community  around  us  has  been  very  much 
lost,  and  we  are  evidently  floating  upon  an  ebb  tide,  with  but  little  hope, 
in  outward  indications,  of  any  flood  to  succeed  it.  I  speak  of  this  in  our 
relative  condition  as  a  church. 

Thus  we  are  to  experience  that  wliich  the  apostle  calls  being  abased  and 
suffering  need.  How  far  this  state  of  facts  is  dependent  upon  and  produced 
by  a  personal  failure  in  the  ministry  here,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  decide 
and  would  not  become  me  to  say.  I  am  certainly  conscious  that  the  decays 
of  age  and  the  natural  weariness  in  others  in  meeting  a  ministry  so  pro- 
tracted, are  most  important  elements  of  failure  in  actual  results,  and  I  wish 
I  may  be  able  to  take  the  apostle's  ground  of  quiet  and  peaceful  submission 
to  the  gTaeious  providence  of  my  Lord,  and  say,  '  None  of  these  things 
move  me,  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that  I  may  finish  my 
course  with  joy  and  the  ministry  which  I  have  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
to  testify  the  gosj^el  of  the  grace  of  God.' 

Within  a  year  St.  George's  mourned  the  loss  of  three  of  her  most 
honored  and  devoted  sons — William  Whitlock,  Jr.,  Adolphus  Lane, 
and  William  T.  Blodgett.  Mr.  Whitlock,  who  must  ever  be  held 
in  grateful  remembrance  for  his  self  -  sacrificing  carrying  of  the 
financial  burden  by  which  St.  George's  new  church  was  made  pos- 
sible, died  July  11,  1875,  in  his  eighty-fifth  year.  He  became  a 
vestryman  in  1835,  warden  in  1846,  and  retired  at  Easter,  1863. 
His  earnest  interest  in  the  church  continued,  and  his  attendance 
at  worship  was  as  regular  as  his  health  permitted,  till  he  was  gath- 
ered to  his  fathers  in  the  ripeness  of  a  good  old  age.  He  was  es- 
teemed by  all  who  knew  him  for  his  unblemished  probity,  his  prac- 
tical wisdom,  his  accurate  judgment,  his  personal  kindliness,  and  his 
consecrated  Christian  character. 

Mr.  Blodgett  was  the  next  one  summoned,  November  4,  1875.  He 
was  baptized  and  confirmed  in  St.  George's  and  became  a  vestryman 
in  1865.  Prosperity  attended  him;  he  was  a  devotee  of  literature 
and  art,  a  tasteful  elegance  surrounded  him.    In  his  home  relations 


252  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

he  was  admirable,  and  by  his  associates  in  the  vestry  was  in  life 
appreciated  and  in  death  sincerely  mourned. 

Mr.  Lane  had  been  for  fifty  years  a  communicant  of  St.  George's 
and  for  nearly  thirty  a  member  of  the  vestry,  during  eleven  of 
which  years  he  had  been  warden.  His  fidelity  and  modesty  in  the 
discharge  of  every  duty  and  his  devoted  Christian  character  were 
an  example  to  all  about  him.  For  many  years  he  was  a  faithful 
teacher  in  the  Sunday-school,  and  his  walk  and  conversation  was 
"  such  as  becometh  the  Gospel  of  Christ."  The  last  years  of  his 
life  were  clouded  by  much  suffering  as  the  result  of  having  been 
run  over  by  a  heavy  wagon  in  Broadway,  which  left  him  helpless, 
until,  submissive,  patient,  full  of  faith  and  hope,  he  entered  into 
rest  in  February,  1876. 

Unhappily  harbingers  of  waning  prosperity  were  forcing  them- 
selves upon  the  attention  of  the  vestry.  The  rector  reported  in 
December,  1875,  "  that  obligations  for  the  charitable  work  of  this 
church  to  the  amount  of  $1,369.54  were  yet  unpaid,"  and  that  the 
treasurer  of  the  mission  chapels  had  advanced  for  their  account 
$1,100,  and  there  was  a  certain  prospect  of  a  larger  deficiency.  In 
response  to  the  rector's  request  for  advice  in  relation  thereto,  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  consider  and  report  upon  the  situation 
and  the  treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  $5,000. 

The  desirability  and  wisdom  of  appointing  a  permanent  assistant 
minister  having  been  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  vestry  by  the 
executive  committee,  Messrs.  Tracy,  Stearns,  and  Morgan  were  ap- 
pointed to  confer  with  the  rector  and  report  a  suitable  candidate 
for  that  position.    At  a  special  meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  Mr. 
Tracy  reported  that  after  conference  with  the  rector,  Mr.  Dows,  Mr. 
Morgan,  and  himself  had  visited  Georgetown  to  hear  and  interview 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Williams,  rector  of  Christ  Church  in  that  place.    After 
full  consideration  of  the  report,  the  rector  formally  nominated  the 
Rev.  Walter  W.  Williams,  D.D.,  rector  of  Christ  Church,  George- 
town, D.  C,  as  associate  rector  of  St.  George's  Church.     In  order, 
however,  that  other  members  of  the  vestry  might  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  visiting  Georgetown,  the  meeting  was  adjourned  until  the 
following  Tuesday.     The  vestry  having  reconvened  at  that   date, 
Messrs.  Spencer,  Stearns,  and  Marshall  reported  that  they  were  pre- 
pared to  sustain  the  judgment  of  IMessrs.  Tracy,  Dows,  and  Morgan 
as  to  the  suitability  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Williams  for  the  position.     It 
was  therefore,  "  Resolved,  that  the  Rev.  Walter  W.  Williams,  D.D., 
now  rector  of  Christ  Church,  Georgetown,  be  and  hereby  is  chosen 
associate  rector  of  St.  George's  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York, 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  253 

with  succession  to  the  rectorship  in  case  of  a  vacancy  therein," 
The  senior  warden  was  instructed  to  prepare  a  letter  to  Dr.  Williams, 
informing  him  of  his  election,  to  be  signed  by  the  wardens  and 
vestrymen  and  forwarded  to  him  with  an  attested  copy  of  the  fore- 
going resolution.    The  following  is  the  letter  which  was  sent : 

The  vestry  of  St.  George's  Church,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the 
nomination  of  the  Rector,  Rev.  S.  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  at  a  meeting  held  this 
day,  have  unanimously  elected  a^ou  Associate  Rector,  with  succession  to 
the  sole  rectorship  in  case  of  a  vacancy;  and  an  attested  copy  of  the 
resolution  is  herewith  enclosed. 

This  church  has  been  favored  for  more  than  sixty  years,  in  the  suc- 
cessive rectorates  of  Dr.  Milnor  and  Dr.  Tyng,  with  a  ministry  truly 
Evangelical,  and  has  been  enabled  by  the  divine  blessing  to  maintain  a 
home  of  pure  faith  and  uncon'upted  worship  for  its  large  congregation, 
and  a  support  and  defence  for  friends  of  like  views  throughout  this 
coi^ntry.  The  closing  years  of  its  present  rector  come  at  a  time  when 
errors  are  creeping  in,  and  the  right  choice  of  a  successor  is  very  im- 
portant. 

A  duty  thus  devolves  on  the  vestry  which  they  deeply  feel.  In  your 
election,  imder  these  circumstances,  we  have  acted  with  full  knowledge 
of  your  Evangelical  opinions,  your  ministerial  experience,  and  the  ability 
and  learning  with  which  you  are  endowed;  and  we  hope  you  will  find  it 
in  the  line  of  your  duty  and  calling  in  the  service  of  the  Master,  to  enter 
our  parish  and  here  forward  the  good  work.  We  promise  you  a  most 
cordial  welcome  from  our  people,  and  assure  you  that  the  matter  of  your 
maintenance  will  be  arranged  with  liberality  and  to  your  satisfaction. 

The  probable  necessity  of  retrenchment  in  expenditure,  so  free- 
ly made  in  the  past  for  the  mission  chapels  of  the  church,  prompted 
the  action  which  the  vestry  took  April  13,  1876,  in  appointing 
Messrs.  Tracy  and  Stearns  a  committee  "  to  review  the  relations 
between  this  vestry  and  the  missions  of  this  corporation  and  to 
make  any  suggestions  for  a  revision  in  their  management  that  they 
may  deem  expedient. ' ' .  The  committee  later  reported  that  ' '  no 
change  in  the  organization  of  the  chapels  is  desirable  at  present, 
except  that  in  appointing  the  ten  trustees  of  the  chapels  for  the 
present  year,  seven  be  taken  from  the  congregation  and  three  from 
members  of  the  vestry. ' '  The  Board  of  Trustees  was  then  appointed 
and  was  ''  requested  to  submit  to  the  vestry  a  statement  of  its 
financial  prospects  and  plans  before  making  any  appropriation  of 
money  for  the  expenses  of  the  ensuing  year." 

As  a  contribution  to  the  general  reduction  of  expenses  which 
the  finances  of  the  Church  demanded,  the  insurance  against  loss 
by  fire  was  reduced  from  $190,000  to  $100,000,  $95,000  being 
placed  on  the  church  building  and  $5,000  on  the  furniture.     The 


254  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

organ  was  insured  for  $13,500  and  the  clock  for  $2,500.  The  Six- 
teenth Street  chapel  was  insured  for  $15,000,  the  rectory  for  $17,500, 
the  Fourteenth  Street  chapel,  including  furniture,  for  $29,000,  and 
the  Nineteenth  Street  chapel  for  $15,000. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Williams  having  duly  considered  the  call  of  the 
vestry  to  become  associate  rector,  signified  his  acceptance  of  the 
position  in  the  following  letter: 

Georgetown,  D.  C,  May  4,  1876. 
Messrs.  Charles  Tracy  &  David  Daws,  Wardens  of  St.  George's  Church. 
Dear  Friends  &  Brethren: 

I  have  been  on  a  visit  to  Virginia  and  hence  the  delay  in  acknowledging 
the  receipt  of  yours  of  the  2d  inst.  Your  call  to  the  associate  rector- 
ship of  St.  George's  has  been  under  consideration  since  my  return  from 
New  York  and  after  earnest  prayer  for  divine  guidance,  and  consultation 
with  my  brethi'en  in  the  Ministry  I  have  decided  to  accept  your  call.  I  do 
so  under  a  solemn  sense  of  the  responsibility  of  the  step,  and  deeply  con- 
scious of  my  own  insufficiency  for  such  a  work;  but  my  heart's  desire  and 
prayer  to  God  is  that  I  may  come  unto  you  in  the  fullness  of  the  blessing 
of  the  gospel  of  peace,  and  that  my  ministry  among  yon  may  be  for  His 
glory  and  the  edification  and  salvation  of  souls. 

It  has  cost  me  no  little  pain  and  sorrow  to  sever  the  ties  which  have 
so  long  bound  me  to  this  people,  and  the  prospect  of  entering  upon  an 
untried  field  of  labor  and  forming  new  pastoral  ties  causes  me  gi'eat  anx- 
iety, but  I  hope  it  is  the  Lord's  hand  leading  me,  and  I  believe  I  shall 
receive  your  warm  sympathy  and  eoi'dial  support.  I  come  desiring  '  to 
know  nothing  among  you  save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified,'  and  it 
will  be  my  aim  and  endeavor  to  lighten  the  burdens  of  your  beloved  rector, 
and  do  all  in  my  power  to  keep  St.  George's  true  and  steadfast  to  the  same 
high  standard  of  a  pure  faith  and  uncorrupted  worship,  which  for  sixty 
years  have  so  gi'eatly  distinguished  it. 

The  last  Sunday  of  this  month  is  the  tenth  anniversary  of  my  ministry 
of  this  church;  and  I  think  it  due  to  my  people  here  that  I  should  remain 
their  rector  until  then ;  and  I  therefore  desire  that  ray  acceptance  of  your 
call  date  from  the  29th  of  May.  I  also  understand  it  will  meet  the  wishes 
of  the  rector  and  vestry  if  I  assume  actual  charge  early  in  the  fall.  I 
greatly  need  rest  and  relaxation,  as  for  some  years  past  I  have  had  no 
release  from  the  duties  of  my  ministry. 

Asking-  brethren  your  prayer  for  the  Lord's  blessing  upon  the  relation 
I  shall  occupy  to  your  church  and  people,  I  remain 

Very  Truly  Yours, 

"Walter  W.  Williams. 

Dr.  Williams  also  officially  notified  the  clerk  of  the  vestry  of  his 
acceptance.  The  vestry  thereupon  requested  the  rector  to  inform 
the  congregation  at  the  morning  service  on  Sunday  next  of  Dr. 
Williams's  acceptance,  and  adopted  a  resolution  frsing  the  salary  of 
the  associate  rector  at  $4,000  per  year,  in  quarterly  instalments,  with 


<^'^<<<^"7.  (:^<::2/2^^^\ 


<^.  <  <- -s^y/^ 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  255 

a  suitably  furnished  dwelling-house  for  his  residence.    These  resolu- 
tions also  were  adopted : 

Whereas,  The  Rev.  Dr.  Williams  has  accepted  the  office  of  Associate 
Rector  of  the  church  to  take  effect  on  the  29th  inst.  and  desires  that  he  be 
allowed  to  delay  taking  active  charge  until  the  1st  of  October, 

Resolved,  That  a  leave  of  absence  of  four  months  be  granted  to  Dr. 
Williams,  and  that  his  salary  be  continued  during  that  period.     Also 

Resolved,  That  Dr.  Williams  be  informed  that  the  vestry  deem  it  de- 
sirable that  he  should  officiate  in  this  church  one  or  more  Sundays  before 
his  vacation. 

The  associate  rector  responded  to  the  request  that  he  should  of- 
ficiate in  the  church  before  his  vacation  by  naming  Whitsunday  as 
the  time  when  he  might  be  expected. 

The  house  selected  for  his  use  was  No.  10  Livingston  Place,  on 
the  corner  of  Sixteenth  Street,  which  was  rented  for  $1,600  per 
year  from  October  1,  1876,  with  the  privilege  of  renewal.  A  com- 
mittee of  the  vestry  furnished  it  at  an  expense  of  $3,427.50. 

The  important  subject  of  a  division  of  the  work  between  the  rector 
and  his  associate  was  referred  to  them  by  the  vestry  September  14th, 
to  report  "  what  they  shall  desire  in  that  regard."  On  this  matter 
the  rector  reported  later,  that  he  had  arranged  with  the  associate 
rector  for  an  equal  division  of  the  public  services  of  the  church  in 
regular  alternate  performance.  He  had  also  requested  the  associate 
rector  to  take  the  whole  charge  of  the  mission  chapels,  and  to  per- 
form all  the  pastoral  services  in  the  congregation  to  which  he  should 
be  invited.  The  rector  had  great  pleasure  further  in  stating  that 
this  arrangement  had  been  cheerfully  adopted  by  the  associate  rector, 
and  that  he  was  fulfilling  it,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  con- 
gregation. 

Members  of  the  congregation  engaged  in  the  Sunday-school  work 
having  requested  the  rector  to  change  the  hour  of  Morning  Prayer 
on  Sunday  from  10.30  to  11,  the  change  was  made  with  the  con- 
currence of  the  vestry. 

The  organist  of  the  church  since  March  1,  1876,  had  been  S.  Austin 
Pearce,  Mus.  Doc.  Oxon.,  and  having  applied  for  the  use  of  the 
church  for  a  series  of  organ  recitals,  his  request  was  granted  Novem- 
ber 9,  1876. 

A  proposition  to  raise  additional  revenue  by  advancing  the  rents 
was  at  this  same  meeting  carefully  considered.  No  formal  action, 
however,  was  taken,  the  prevailing  opinion  being  that  it  would  be 
better  to  raise  money  on  a  portion  of  the  property  of  the  corporation 
than  to  advance  pew  rents. 


256  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Immediately  after  the  Easter  anniversary  of  the  Sunday-schools 
in  1877,  the  rector  was  prostrated  with  a  severe  attack  of  typhoid 
fever  complicated  by  erysipelas.  For  weeks  he  lay  hovering  between 
life  and  death,  but  his  vigorous  constitution,  despite  his  advanced 
age,  at  length  overcame  the  disease,  though  he  was  left  in  a  state 
of  exhaustion  which  augured  ill  for  the  resumption  of  his  work. 
But  in  the  quiet  of  his  summer  home  at  Irvington  he  rapidly  im- 
proved, and  in  the  early  fall  was  anxious  to  take  up  again  his  duties 
in  the  church.  He  did  all  that  he  could,  but  was  unequal  to  the 
strain  of  standing  in  the  pulpit,  and  so  preached  remaining  seated. 
It  was  so  evident  that  freedom  from  responsibility  and  care  were 
indispensable  for  Dr.  Tyng,  that  in  their  generous  and  kindly 
thought  for  him  the  executive  committee  in  December,  1877,  adopted 
resolutions  which  the  wardens  of  the  church  duly  presented  to  him : 

Whereas,  The  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  is  now  approaching  the 
thirty-third  year  of  his  rectorship,  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and 
the  fifty-seventh  year  of  his  ministiy,  and  has  reached  a  time  when  the 
vestry  recognizes  that  he  is  in  every  way  entitled  to  relief  from  the  cares 
and  burdens  of  an  active  rectorship,  and  to  adequate  provision  for  his 
remaining  years,  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  in  case  the  Rector  desires  to  resign  the  rectorship  of  this 
church  and  accept  the  honorary  position  of  Rector  Emeritus,  then,  and  in 
that  case,  the  bond  of  this  corporation  shall  be  issued  in  his  favor,  obli- 
gating this  corporation  to  pay  him  the  sum  of  four  thousand  dollars  an- 
nually, in  quarterly  payments,  during  the  remaining  years  of  his  life. 

Resolved,  That  the  wardens  be  requested  to  wait  upon  the  rector,  and 
communicate  to  him  the  foregoing  resolution  and  the  feeling  of  affection 
and  consideration  Avhich  led  to  its  unanimous  adoption. 

The  wardens  soon  reported  that  on  December  10th  they  had 
called  on  the  rector,  presented  a  certified  copy  of  the  resolutions, 
and  had  a  very  pleasant  interview.  The  rector  expressed  his  grati- 
fication with  the  spirit  of  the  resolutions  and  intimated  that  he 
would  reply  in  writing  with  as  little  delay  as  the  importance  of  the 
subject  warranted. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  reluctance  with  which  Dr.  Tyng  faced 
the  question  of  his  resignation  of  the  rectorship  which  he  had  so 
efficiently  exercised  for  a  generation.  Of  his  failing  strength  he  was 
painfully  conscious,  and  yet  the  conditions  of  waning  prosperity  in 
the  church  clearly  demanded  a  more  vigorous  administration  than 
it  was  possible  for  him  to  give.  His  sense  of  duty,  therefore, 
prompted  the  following  letter  addressed  to  the  wardens : 

St.  George's  Rectory.  December  12,  1877. 
Gentlemen  &  Brethren  : — I  have  given  due  attention  to  the  communica- 
tion from  the  '  Executive  Committee  of  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church ' 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  257 

presented  by  you  to  me.    I  would  express  with  much  feeling,  my  gratitude 
for  the  action  and  expressions  of  the  executive  committee. 

I  am  ready  to  accept  the  proposal  involved  if  adequate  arrangements 
can  be  made  for  its  due  execution.  The  specific  income  proposed  to  be 
paid  quarterly  is  satisfactory  and  quite  adequate.  But  the  proposal  of 
the  executive  committee  includes  no  house  for  the  occupation  of  my 
family;  while  the  free  occupation  of  the  rectoiy  was  a  part  of  my  original 
settlement,  for  which  my  agreement  with  the  '  Corporation  of  St.  George's 
Church '  provided.  The  proposal  from  the  executive  committee  specifies 
no  particular  time,  at  which  such  resignation  is  to  be  desired  by  the  vestry. 
I  should  be  glad  that  these  two  j^oints  might  be  considered  and  referred 
with  power  or  with  directions  for  agreement  to  the  wardens  who  have  been 
appointed  to  confer  with  me  upon  this  subject. 

It  would  be  well  for  both  parties  to  have  a  distinct  understanding  of  the 
elements  involved  in  this  whole  change  and  arrangement,  now  to  be  decided; 
involving  interests  of  such  importance  to  the  congregation  and  necessarily 
including  much  public  consideration.  In  reference  to  the  whole  subject 
thus  involved  I  have  to  say  tliat  I  have  no  '  desire  to  resign  the  rectorship 
of  St.  George's  Church.'  But  I  am  willing  to  do  it,  as  by  request  of  the 
executive  committee,  upon  the  basis  presented  in  the  preceding  considera- 
tions. 

With  these  expressions  of  my  views  upon  the  subjects  involved  in  the 
communication  of  the  Executive  Committee,  I  am  with  much  respect  and 
regard  for  the  gentlemen  to  whom  I  have  thus  addressed  myself. 

Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Rector  of  St,  George's  Church. 

Upon  receipt  and  consideration  of  this  communication  the  ex- 
ecutive committee  adopted  the  following : 

Whereas,  It  is  apparent  from  the  above  communication  that  the  rector 
has  misunderstood  the  mtent  and  spirit  which  led  to  the  action  of  the  ex- 
ecutive committee  on  the  eighth  of  December  inst.  it  is  therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  wardens  be  a  committee  to  confer  with  the  rector, 
with  powder  as  proposed  by  him,  it  being  understood  that  no  action  which 
this  vestry  has  taken  is  to  be  considered  in  any  sense  as  a  request  for  him 
to  resign,  unless  in  accordance  with  his  own  wishes. 

The  wardens  having  conferred  with  the  rector  as  instructed,  re- 
ported at  the  vestry  meeting,  January  17th,  that  they  had  pleas- 
antly and  carefully  considered  the  subject  with  him  and  now  pre- 
sented the  following  communication  from  the  rector,  addressed  to 
them: 

St.  George's  Rectory,  January  10,  1878. 

Gentlemen  and  Brethren: — In  reply  to  your  note  of  the  5th  inst., 
and  accompanying  documents  sent  to  me  for  examination,  I  have  now  to 
say  that  I  have  examined  them  all,  with  satisfaction,  and  I  desire  you  to  an- 
nounce to  the  vestry  my  entire  agreement  with  them.  In  pursuance  of 
the  course  which  is  therein  proposed,  I  ask  you  to  announce  in  my  name 
to  the  vestry,  my  resignation  of  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's  Church,  to 
be  accepted  by  them  as  to  be  accomplished  actually  on  the  first  day  of  May, 
and  all  their  aiTangements  mav  be  made  on  the  basis  of  tliis  avowed  pur- 
17 


258  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

pose.  Be  pleased  to  present  to  the  vestry  my  assurance  of  earnest  grati- 
tude for  all  llie  kindness  and  (-onfidenee  which  have  followed  me  through 
tuese  thirty-three  years  thus  completed  in  my  sacred  work  in  St.  George's 
Church,  and  the  assurance  of  my  earnest  prayer  to  God  for  His  abounding 
blessings  to  rest  upon  them  individually  in  their  households  and  in  the 
church. 

To  yourselves  personally  I  owe  much  for  years  of  kindness,  respect,  and 
care.  May  the  gracious  blessing  of  God  rest  upon  your  families  and  your- 
selves in  the  life  which  now  is,  and  in  that  which  is  to  come.  I  am,  per- 
sonally and  officially,  ever  your  faithful  and  grateful  friend  and  brother. 

Stephen  H.  Tyng. 

The  following  resolution  was  thereupon  moved  by  Mr.  Tracy  and 
seconded  by  Mr.  Dows : 

Resolved,  That  the  resignation  of  the  rector  be  and  is  hereby  accepted, 
to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  May  next,  and  that  m  order  to  his  support 
after  his  retirement  the  obligation  of  this  Corporation  granting  to  him  an 
annuity  for  life,  now  submitted  be  sealed  with  the  common  seal  of  this 
corporation  subscribed  by  its  church  wardens  and  the  clex'k  of  the  vestry 
and  delivered  to  the  rector,  the  same  being  as  follows : 

Know  all  men  by  these  jiresents,  that  the  Rector,  Church  Wardens,  and 
Vestrymen  of  Saint  George's  Clmrch  in  the  City  of  New  York,  a  religious 
society  duly  incorporated  under  and  by  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York 
(hereinafter  called  the  Corporation)  in  consideration  of  one  dollar  in  hand 
paid  the  receiiit  whereof  is  hereby  acknowledged  and  for  divers  other 
good  and  valuable  considerations  the  said  Corjioration  thereunto  moving, 
does  hereby  covenant  and  agree  to  and  Avith  the  Reverend  Stephen  H.  Tyng, 
Senior,  Doctor  of  Divinity  (hereinafter  called  the  annuitant),  that  the  said 
Corporation  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  May,  One  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  seventy-eight,  for  and  during  the  natural  life  of  the  said 
annuitant,  will  pay  to  him  an  annuity  at  and  after  the  rate  of  Five  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year,  in  equal  quarter  yearly  payments,  the  first  quarterly 
payment  to  be  made  on  the  first  day  of  August,  One  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  seventy-eight.  And  if  the  annuitant  should  die  at  any  time  be- 
tween such  quarter  days,  the  annunity  sliall  be  apportioned  and  paid  to 
that  time,  and  inasmuch  as  this  bond  is  made  and  received  with  intent 
that  the  annuity  shall  never  be  diverted  from  the  use  and  benefit  of  the 
annuitant  or  to  the  payment  of  any  debt  or  demand  against  him,  it  is 
stipulated  and  declared  that  this  bond  is  not  transferable  and  that  no 
instalment  of  the  annuity  is  capable  of  being  assigned  or  encumbered 
before  the  same  becomes  payable. 

In  witness  whereof  the  said  Corporation  has  caused  these  presents  to 
be  sealed  with  its  common  seal  and  subscribed  by  its  church  wardens  and 
by  the  clerk  of  its  vestry  this  the  seventeenth  day  of  January,  One  thou- 
sand and  eight  hundred  and  seventj'-eight. 

Before  ,the  vote  was  taken  on  the  foregoing  resolution,  the  rector 
addressed  the  vestry  in  these  words : 

My  Friends  and  Brethren:  I  cannot  present  this  resolution  for  your 
adoption  without  an  expression  of  my  own  emotions  in  such  a  relation. 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  259 

I  shall  have  occupied  the  honored  position  of  rector  of  this  church  for 
thirty-three  years  on  the  first  of  the  approaching  May.  I  have  been  thus 
connected  with  many  gentlemen  as  members  of  this  vestry.  My  relations 
to  all  have  been  in  the  receipt  of  unfailing  kindness,  ati'ection,  and  respect. 
My  age,  my  extreme  illness  in  the  last  year,  and  my  many  infirmities  make 
it  expedient  that  I  should  now  retire  "from  a  post  so  burdensome  and  so 
responsible.  The  arrangement  which  has  been  made  by  the  wardens  of 
this  church,  acting  with  full  power  for  the  vesti-y,  accords  entirely  with 
my  own  wish  and  my  own  convenience.  And  I  receive  the  action  of  the 
vestry  thus  presented  to  me  with  gi'atitude  and  satisfaction. 

I  would  now  express  my  gi-ateful  sense  of  the  kindness  wliich  has  pro- 
vided for  me  this  relief,  and  my  j^ersonal  affectionate  acceptance  of  the 
provisions  of  the  vestiy  thus  made  and  declared.  And  I  humbly  pray  that' 
the  gracious  blessing  of  our  Divine  Saviour  may  rest  upon  you  all,  and 
upon  your  homes  and  households  with  abounding  gifts  of  love  and  gTace, 
and  grant  imchanging  ministrations  of  His  love  and  power  upon  the  con- 
gregation and  families  whom  you  are  appointed  to  represent,  in  this  re- 
lation. 

The  resolution  was  then  unanimously  adopted,  as  were  also  the 
following : 

Resolved,  That  the  wardens  and  senior  vestryman  be  a  committee  to  draft 
resolutions  and  a  suitable  minute  to  express  the  feelings  of  this  vestry 
and  of  the  members  of  the  church  generally  upon  the  resignation  of  their 
venerable  and  beloved  rector  and  to  submit  the  same  to  the  vestry  for  their 
action. 

Besolved,  That  the  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  Senior,  be  and  is  hereby 
appointed  to  the  honorary  position  of  Rector  Emeritus  of  this  church  to 
take  effect  ujDon  his  retirement  from  the  rectorship. 

After  the  transaction  of  the  business  relating  to  the  call  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Williams  as  his  successor,  the  records  further  recite :  ' '  The 
rector  then  led  in  a  prayer  for  the  divine  blessing  to  rest  upon  the 
Church  and  upon  the  action  of  the  vestry  here  recorded.  He  pro- 
nounced the  Benediction  of  Peace  and  after  taking  a  personal  and 
affectionate  leave  of  each  member  of  the  vestry,  retired  from  the 
meeting." 

It  may  be  here  noted  that  at  the  close  of  the  annual  election  on 
Easter  Tuesday,  April  23d,  the  meeting  adopted  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  at  this  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  congregation  over 
which  our  beloved  rector  is  expected  to  j^reside,  we  desire  to  record  our 
continued  love  and  affection  for  him  in  his  retirement  and  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  faithfulness  in  the  administration  of  this  parish. 
The  certificate  of  election  is  recorded  in  the  handwriting  of  Dr. 
Tyng,  who  was  at  this  time  in  his  seventy-ninth  year. 

The  special  committee  to  apprise  the  Rev.  Dr.  Williams  of  his 


260  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

election  as  rector  addressed  to  him  the  following  letter,  which,  to- 
gether with  his  reply,  they  laid  before  the  vestry  April  25,  1878. 

New  York,  FeVy  19,  1878. 
Rev.  Walter  W.  Williams,  D.D. 

Dear  Sir:  The  Rev.  Di-.  S.  H.  Tyng,  Sr.,  having  voluntarily  resigned  the 
Rectorship  of  St.  George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York  as  of  May  1, 
1878,  and  his  resignation  having  been  accepted  to  take  effect  on  that  day, 
the  Vestry  by  unanimous  vote  has  elected  you  Rector,  to  take  effect  on  the 
same  first  day  of  May  next. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the 
vestry  by  unanimous  vote: 

Besolved,  That  the  Rev.  Walter  W,  "Williams,  D.D.,  associate  rector, 
be  and  is  hereby  elected  Rector  of  this  Church,  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day 
of  May  next. 

Resolved,  That  this  vestrj'  in  thus  carrying  out  an  arrangement  at  the 
time  of  Dr.  Williams'  appointment  as  associate  rector  desire  to  express 
their  satisfaction  in  so  doing,  and  to  assure  hun  that  their  action  would 
have  been  the  same  had  no  agreement  existed. 

Resolved,  That  the  salary  of  the  future  rector  be  continued  at  Four  Thou- 
sand Dollai'S  per  annum,  i^ayable  quarterly,  and  that  he  be  allowed  the 
free  use  of  the  rectory,  adjoining  the  church  as  a  residence  for  himself  and 
his  family. 

Resolved,  That  the  wardens  and  senior  vestryman  be  a  committee  to 
communicate  these  resolutions  to  the  rector-elect,  and  to  ask  his  acceptance 
of  the  rectorship;  and  that  the  same  gentlemen  be  a  committee  to  com- 
municate to  the  ecclesiastical  authoi'ities  of  the  Diocese  the  change  in  the 
ministry  of  tliis  Church  and  secure  their  official  recognition  of  the  same. 

In  pursuance  of  the  directions  of  the  vestry  above  contained  and  in 
the  interest  of  the  congregation  and  in  expression  of  our  own  judgment 
and  wishes,  \^'e  cordially  and  earnestly  request  you  to  accept  this  election, 
and  assume  the  rectorship  at  the  time  set  by  the  resolution. 

Very  respectfully  &  traly  yours, 

Charles  Tracy. 

David  Dows. 

J.  PiERPOXT  Morgan. 

New  York,  Marcli  11,  1878. 
Messrs.  Charles  Tracy,  David  Bows  &  J.  Pierpont  Morgan. 

Gextlemex:  I  have  received  the  resolutions  of  the  vestry  communicated 
through  you  informing  me  of  the  voluntary  resignation  of  the  Rev.  S.  H. 
Tyng,  D.D.,  as  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church  in  this  city  and  of  my 
election  to  the  Rectorship  of  said  Church  to  take  effect  the  first  day  of 
May,  1878. 

Allow  me  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the  kind  words  in  which  the 
committee  have  conveyed  the  action  of  the  vestry  and  also  to  say  that  I 
did  not  need  such  action  to  assure  me  of  the  purpose  of  the  vestry-  to  cany 
out  the  agreement  made  with  me  when  called  to  the  associate  rectorship. 
As  no  such  office  or  title  is  known  or  recognized  by  the  canons  of  the  Chui'^h, 
I  would  have  suggested  to  the  vestry,  before  entering  upon  the  rector- 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  261 

ship,  the  propriety  of  a  formal  call  to  the  same;  but  not  because  of  any 
doubt  of  their  intention,  but  to  preclude  any  possible  question  as  to  the 
legality'  of  my  tenure  of  the  office. 

J.  fully  appreciate  the  responsibility  of  undertaking  such  a  work  and  if 
I  consulted  my  own  feelings  and  wishes  I  would  prefer  a  humble  field  and 
one  less  exacting  in  its  demands;  but  now,  after  a  ministry  of  nearly  two 
3'ears  in  your  midst,  you  renew  your  offer,  and  express  the  cordial  and 
earnest  desire  that  I  would  accej^t  the  Rectorship.  I  can  only  assure  you 
of  my  willingness  to  yield  to  your  wishes  and  do  hereby  accept  your  election 
to  the  Rectorship  of  St.  George's  Church  to  take  effect  the  1st  of  May. 

My  heai't's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  is  that  His  work  may  prosper 
in  my  hands.  My  sufficiency  can  alone  come  from  His  grace  and  strength 
working  in  me  and  with  me  and  the  hearty  support  and  co-operation  of 
the  vestry  and  congregation. 

I  cannot  expe(;t  such  a  future  of  eminence  and  usefulness  for  this  Church 
as  has  marked  its  past;  few  possess  such  eminent  ability  and  gifts  as  my 
honored  brotlier  who  now  relinquishes  the  work,  and  few  have  been  so 
owned  and  blessed  of  the  I^ord  in  the  ministry.  All  I  can  hope  is  to  keep 
this  Church  true  to  its  old  standards  of  faith  and  adapt  it  to  the  altered 
circumstances  and  times  which  now  meet  us.  May  Christ  Jesus  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church,  in  His  irifinite  grace  and  love,  so  bless  and  prosper  our 
united  efforts  that  the  work  of  the  Lord  may  prosper  in  our  midst;  and  this 
Church,  with  its  glorious  past,  be  stiJl  honored  in  doing  much  for  the  glory 
of  His  great  name  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 

I  remain  dear  friends  &  brethren, 

Your  Servant  in  Christ, 

Walter  W.  Williams, 

The  last  Sunday  in  April,  the  first  Sunday  after  Easter,  which 
had  always  been  Dr.  Tyng's  anniversary  Sunday,  and  which  was 
to  be  the  last  Sunday  of  his  rectorship,  was  the  occasion  of  his 
parting  sermon  to  the  flock  he  loved  so  well.  The  church  was 
crowded  with  a  congregation  which  felt  the  solemnizing  influence 
of  the  thought,  that  the  familiar  voice  of  their  beloved  rector  was 
being  heard  for  the  last  time  from  that  pulpit,  and  that  the  tender 
ties  which  had  bound  them  for  so  long  a  period  together  as  devoted 
pastor  and  attached  people  were  now  about  to  be  sundered.  The 
sermon  was  upon  the  text,  "  Perfect  through  sufferings,"  He- 
brews 11 :  10. 

Two  schemes  for  personal  happiness  are  opened  to  man.  One  the  path 
of  self-gratification, — the  other  the  path  of  self-denial.  The  one  i3roposes 
the  indulgence  of  every  desire, — the  other  the  conquest  and  ruling  of  every 
emotion.  The  one  is  the  path  of  animal  pleasure, — the  joy  of  the  flesh. 
The  other  is  the  scheme  of  spiritual  improvement, — the  triumph  of  gi'ace, 
the  reign  of  holiness.  The  one  is  the  plan  of  man's  fallen  nature,  the  other 
is  the  suggestion  of  the  revealed  will  of  God.  The  one  pro^ioses  man's 
perfection  through  indulgence, — the  other  through  suffering.  Man  would 
be  happy  by  acquiring  according  to  his  will.  God  would  have  him  happy, 


262  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

by  conquering'  aeeoiding-  to  the  will  of  God.  In  this,  God's  ways  are  not 
as  our  ways,  nor  His  thoughts  as  our  thoughts.  This  is  the  important 
subject  here  presented  to  us, — as  illustrated  in  our  text,  by  the  appointed 
endurance  of  the  Saviour,  and  bj^  the  consequent  discipline  of  man  re- 
deemed by  him.  lender  these  two  heads,  may  we  consider  it,  as  the  Chris- 
tian's hope  and  the  Christian's  discipline.  The  foundation  on  which  he 
stands, — and  the  path  and  process  through  wliicb  he  is  led. 

His  concluding  words  were  these: 

The  ministi"y  which  is  now  closing  in  this  place  has  been  no  exception 
to  this  rule  governing  the  world.  For  a  tliird  of  a  centui-y  I  have  here 
preached  Christ  crucified.  It  has  been  an  unceasing  proclamation  of  the 
power  of  an  Almighty  Saviour;  repentance  towards  God  and  faith  towards 
Christ.  I  have  endeavored  constantly  to  unfold  these  truths  and  to  teach 
them  from  house  to  house.  How  faithfully,  ye  are  witnesses.  God  knows 
liow  I  have  loved  you,  how  I  have  prayed  for  you  through  these  long 
years.  He  alone  can  announce  the  results  of  such  a  ministry,  and  to  His 
judgment  I  must  commit  the  acceptance  of  my  life  of  labor.  Eternity  alone 
can  tell  how  many  souls  have  here  found  rest  and  salvation. 

The  multiplication  of  my  years,  the  enfeebling  of  my  body,  the  increase 
of  my  physical  infirmities,  have  led  me  to  this  voluntary  retirement  from 
a  ministry  which  presses  so  heavily  uj^on  a  responsible  soul.  Of  your 
relations  to  me  I  have  no  g^i'ound  for  com])laint,  but  much  for  which  I  give 
daily  thanks  as  for  God's  will  and  provision  for  me.  The  generous  way 
in  which  you  have  encouraged  me  was  all  that  any  man  could  ask,  and 
your  provision  for  my  necessities  has  been  just  and  adequate.  This  day 
our  personal  relations,  so  long  maintained,  are  severed,  but  I  leave  with 
you  a  beloved  brother  whose  fidelity  I  acknowledge,  and  I  pray  that  imder 
his  ministry,  God  will  give  abundant  evidence  that  he  is  an  apostle  from 
the  Most  High.  We  shall  meet  before  the  Saviour's  throne,  and  together 
shall  rejoice  and  praise  Him  for  having  thus  associated  us  during  these 
years  of  prejDaration.  I  leave  with  one  sad  regret, — regret  that  there 
are  many  here  who  are  kind  and  respectful  to  me,  but  without  any  personal 
knowledge  of  Christ's  love.  Every  one  in  this  church  might  rejoice  in  the 
perfect  blessing  of  heaven,  and  say  that  Christ  reigns  in  them.  How  many 
of  you  can  say  this?  God's  alternatives  are  before  you.  They  cannot  be 
escaped.  Are  you  determined  to  be  His  children?  Nothing  else  will  answer 
the  unceasing  ])rayer  of  my  poor  heart.  "With  the  power  of  God  and  the 
guidance  of  His  Spirit,  T  have  endeavored  to  discharge  the  trust  committed 
to  me.  You  have  heard  His  truths  and  I  leave  them  with  you.  And  now 
may  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding  be  with  you  and 
keep  you  to  the  end.    Amen. 

The  special  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Tracy,  Dows,  and 
Morgan,  who  had  been  appointed  to  draft  resolutions  expressive  of 
the  feeling  of  the  vestry  upon  Dr.  Tyng's  retirement,  reported  the 
following  minute,  which  was  duly  entered  upon  the  records  of  the 
corporation  and  ordered  to  be  printed  in  the  church  papers : 

The  Rev,  Stephen  H.  Tyng.  Senior,  D.D.,  having  retired  from  the  position 
of  Rector  of  this  cluu'ch  on  completing  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  ministry 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  263 

therein,  the  vestry  desire  to  express  to  him  and  place  on  record  their  pro- 
found sense  of  his  great  ability,  his  ardent,  constant  zeal,  his  steadfast 
adherence  to  the  Evangelical  faith  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and 
to  its  order  of  worship  through  the  long  period  of  his  rectorship,  and  to 
assure  him  of  the  affection  felt  for  him  by  the  whole  congregation  of  St. 
George's  Church. 

It  is  a  cause  of  general  regret  that  he  has  found  it  necessary,  by  reason 
of  age  and  infirmity,  thus  to  seek  a  release  from  the  duties  and  cares  of  the 
pastoral  office,  but  the  memory  of  his  emment  ministerial  fidelity  and  use- 
fulness, and  of  his  true  and  large  liberality  in  works  of  benevolence,  will 
never  fail,  and  the  personal  attachment  of  those  who  have  enjoyed  his 
ministry  or  shared  his  confidence  will  not  be  broken  by  this  separation. 
It  is  their  hope  and  ours  that  the  residue  of  his  life  may  be  cheered  by 
recollections  of  the  past,  full  of  labors  and  not  free  from  cares,  but  abound- 
ing in  successes,  and  be  gladdened  by  the  confidence  of  a  future  higher 
life  which  he  has  so  often  and  so  nobly  jDreached. 

Before  taking  up  the  narrative  of  his  successor's  work,  a  brief 
review  of  the  period  of  Dr.  Tyng's  retirement  and  notice  of  his 
death  and  funeral  may  fitly  be  inserted  here. 

With  the  resignation  of  his  rectorship  the  active  ministry  of  Dr. 
Tyng  was  practically  closed,  his  life  work  in  its  public  interests  and 
relations  ended.  It  was  a  ministry  which  had  been  most  remark- 
able in  its  character,  in  the  extent  and  intensity  of  its  influence, 
in  its  abounding  labors,  in  its  abundant  fruits.  Had  he  been  taken 
in  the  midst  of  his  activities,  as  would  have  been  his  own  desire,  his 
death  would  have  been  emphasized  as  a  great  public  loss.  But  years 
of  weakness  and  in  the  end  senility  veiled  him  from  public  view, 
as  his  strength  was  lapsing  and  his  end  was  drawing  near.  It  was 
indeed  pathetic  to  see  the  old  man,  once  so  strong,  experiencing  the 
sadness  of  the  words  spoken  to  an  Apostle  in  the  earliest  age,  ' '  When 
thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch  forth  thine  hands  and  another 
shall  gird  thee  and  carry  thee  whether  thou  would 'st  not." 

Among  the  sympathetic  expressions  in  view  of  his  retirement 
which  he  received  from  far  and  near  was  one  from  the  Bishop  of 
Ohio,  who  wrote  in  behalf  of  himself  and  wife : 

Diocese  op  Ohio.  Cleveland,  April  30th,  1878. 

My  Dear  Friend — .Julia  and  I  beg  permission  to  write  to  you  on  the 
occasion  of  your  retirement  from  active  parish  work,  with  an  exjDression 
of  our  hearty  sympathy. 

Whether  you  feel  it  to  be  a  subject  of  congi-atulation  or  of  condolence, 
our  hearts  are  Avith  you.  For  if  the  event  has  any  sadness  in  it,  it  cer- 
tainly has  equally,  if  not  more,  of  the  glad  and  joyous.  It  is  a  prophecy 
of  the  Lord's  'Well  done';  His  own  acceptance  of  a  good  day's  work  well 


264  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

finished,  and  His  own  gracious  loosing  of  the  bands  which,  whilst  they 
held  you  so  doseh'  to  labor,  held  you  also  away  from  His  reward  of  it. 
It  seems  to  us  a  very  kind  ordering  which  provides  for  you  an  interval 
of  cjuiet,  honorable,  and  honored  rejDose,  between  a  busy  life  and  a  joy- 
ously active  eternity;  an  interval  for  quiet  reflection,  before  entering  on 
the  achievements  of  the  grander  life  which  is  to  come.  And  it  seems  to 
us  that  you  are  peculiarly  fortunate,  in  that  this  interval  finds  you  in  full 
possession  of  your  intellectual  and  spiritual  powers.  How  wonderfully 
and  graciously  the  Lord  has  led  you,  and  how  happily  you  have  been  able 
to  seize  and  appropriate  the  opportunities  for  usefulness!  And  how 
grandly  you  liave  been  permitted  to  stand  as  a  witness  for  the  old  truths, 
in  a  generation  Avhich  is  as  rapidly  forgetting  them,  as  it  is  forgetting  the 
men  who  uttered  them.  Neither  of  us  has  ever  forgotten  your  sermon, 
'  J  have  set  my  face  as  a  flint.'  It  was  characteristic,  and  has  been  de- 
scriptive. 

And  now  if  the  good  Lord  will  permit  you  to  complete  your  work,  by 
gathering  up  the  results  of  your  ministry,  and  stating  the  principles  by 
which,  humanly  speaking,  they  were  attained,  a  treasure  of  pastoral  di\-inity 
Avill  be  given  "to  the  Church  which  could  not  now  be  equalled  in  value  by 
continued  pastoral  laboi*. 

Wishing  you  every  blessing,  and  assuring  you  of  our  love  from  both  of 
us,  believe  me, 

Sincerely  and  affectionately  yours, 

G.  T.  Bedell. 

But  he  never  found  himself  able  to  write  out  the  record  of  his 
ministry,  as  was  thus  suggested.  He  did  indeed  begin  an  auto- 
biographical sketch  of  his  life,  but  it  extended  no  farther  than  to 
embrace  his  boyhood,  student  life,  and  earlier  ministries  in  George- 
town. D.  C,  in  Prince  George's  County,  Maryland,  and  in  Phila- 
delphia. Much  as  he  longed  for  continued  usefulness,  his  strength 
proved  inadequate  to  sustained  exertion.  He  did  not  participate  in 
the  services  of  St.  George's,  although  most  cordially  invited  to  do 
so  by  his  successor,  through  the  mistaken  feeling  that  it  might  em- 
barrass in  some  way  the  new  rector's  work.  After  removal  from  the 
rectory  of  St.  George's  his  family  secured  a  suitable  house  in  Lex- 
ington Avenue,  in  which  for  three  years  he  was  surrounded  with 
every  comfort  which  loving  care  could  provide.  The  Church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  of  which  the  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  D.D.,  was 
rector,  being  convenient  of  access  he  found  great  satisfaction  in  the 
ministry  of  his  son,  and  was  always  sure  of  a  reverent  and  cordial 
welcome  in  its  chancel  and  among  its  people.  In  the  fall  of  1878 
he  undertook  to  preach  on  Sunday  afternoons  a  course  of  sermons 
to  the  young  on  the  "  Mountains  of  Scripture  "  and  the  lesson 
taught  by  each.  But  he  soon  found  himself  unequal  to  the  task, 
and  an  occasional  address  was  the  most  he  ever  afterward  ventured 
to  attempt.     One  of  the  last  was  at  the  Pre-Millennial  Conference 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  265 

of  representatives  of  various  Christian  bodies  held  in  October,  1878, 
in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  He  had  been  expected  to  pre- 
side and  make  the  opening  address,  but  finding  himself  unable  to 
attend,  sent  what  he  had  prepared  to  be  read  by  his  son.  On  the 
second  day  of  the  Conference,  however,  he  appeared,  and  by  his 
venerable  aspect  and  earnest  words  produced  a  deep  impression  as 
he  spoke  of  that  pre-millennial  coming  of  Christ,  which  was  a  fa- 
vorite topic  with  him  and  to  which  he  had  given  much  Scriptural 
research. 

His  country  home  at  Irvington,  in  which  he  had  spent  so  many 
delightful  summers,  now  became  doubly  attractive  to  him  in  these 
latter  days  of  enforced  repose.  It  was  indeed  a  peaceful  retreat 
from  the  noise  and  confusion  of  the  city,  from  which  he  now  gladly 
escaped;  and  when  the  lease  of  his  New  York  house  expired  in 
1881  the  Irvington  cottage  was  prepared  for  winter  occupation,  and 
there  is  quiet  seclusion,  while  the  shadows  of  life's  evening  were 
deepening  about  him,  he  spent  the  four  remaining  years  of  his  pil- 
grimage, tenderly  cared  for  by  his  devoted  wife  and  ministered  to 
by  the  granddaughters  who  were  members  of  his  household.  His 
mental  faculties  had  already  become  much  enfeebled  and  their  im- 
pairment grew  apace.  But  his  physical  vigor  abated  more  slowly, 
and  he  delighted  in  the  long  rambles  which,  in  company  with  an  at- 
tendant, he  was  in  the  habit  of  making  into  the  surrounding  country. 
A  remarkable  feature  about  his  intellectual  decay  lay  in  the  fact  that 
long  after  his  worn-out  brain  had  become  incapable  of  concentrated 
thought  on  any  other  subject,  his  power  of  expression  on  religious 
themes  and  in  extemporaneous  prayer  still  lingered.  The  end  came 
unexpectedly.  There  was  no  special  illness,  no  suffering.  He  laid 
him  down  upon  his  bed  to  rest,  and  in  the  peaceful  slumbers  of  the 
night  his  spirit  returned  to  God,  who  gave  it. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  vestry  was  at  once  called,  September  5, 
1885,  at  which  resolutions  were  adopted  expressive  of  the  deep  sym- 
pathy of  the  A^estry  with  his  bereaved  famil}'-,  proposing  to  take 
charge  of  the  funeral  and  defray  all  its  expenses,  continuing  the 
annunity  paid  to  the  late  rector-emeritus  to  November  1st,  directing 
the  payment  to  his  widow  of  the  instalment  due  on  that  day,  and 
requesting  the  Presiding  Bishop  of  the  Church,  the  Right  Rev.  Alfred 
Lee,  D.D.,  to  deliver  an  address  at  the  funeral  and  the  Right  Rev, 
G.  T.  Bedell,  D.D.,  to  preach  a  memorial  sermon  at  a  service  to  be 
later  held  in  St.  George's.  The  following  uiinute  was  ordered  to 
be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  vestry  and  published  in  the 
Church  papers. 


266  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

In  the  providence  of  God  we  are  called  to  mourn  the  departure  from  this 
world  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  long  the  honored  and  greatly 
beloved  rector  and  pastor  of  this  church.  He  was  taken  to  his  rest  on 
Thursday  night,  September  3d,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-five  years 
seven  months  and  three  days.  At  the  hour  of  midnight  '  he  fell  asleep  in 
Jesus,'  and  was  not,  for  God  took  him. 

Dr.  Tyng's  ministiy  in  this  city  commenced  in  1845,  at  which  time  he 
was  called  to  succeed  the  venerated  Dr.  Milnor  as  the  rector  of  St.  George's 
Church.  The  church  building  was  then  in  Beekman  Street.  Subsequently 
a  new  site  was  obtained,  on  Stuyvesant  Square  and  Sixteenth  Street,  where 
a  vei-y  large  and  imi^osing  building  was  erected.  During  this  transition 
period  the  cares  and  labors  of  the  rector  were  very  great.  It  was  a  venture 
of  faith.  The  new  church  was  located  beyond  the  centres  of  population ; 
only  a  jiortion  of  the  down-town  congregation  could  be  taken  to  it.  It  was 
therefore  an  open  question  whether  so  vast  an  edifice  could  be  filled  without 
much  delay.  But  Dr.  Tyng  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  His  indomitable 
energy  and  unrivalled  powers  as  a  preaehei',  coupled  with  remarkable  ad- 
ministrative ability,  and  aided  by  a  united  vestry,  soon  removed  all  doubts 
and  difficulties,  and  rapidly  carried  the  enterprise  forward  to  a  complete 
success.  In  a  brief  period  the  great  church  was  full  to  overflowing,  and  the 
Sunday-school  building  was  crowded  with  teachers  and  scholars.  Subse- 
quently Mission  Sunday-schools  were  established,  and  two  chapels,  one  in 
East  Nineteenth  and  one  in  East  Fourteenth  Street,  were  built,  where 
regular  services  were  held.  This  rapidly  growing  work  was  under  the 
supervision  of  Dr.  Tyng,  and  with  all  its  details  he  kept  himself  familiar. 
His  presence  and  examjDle  insi)ired  every  imijortant  movement.  The  result 
was,  in  a  few  years  St.  George's  had  the  largest  congregation,  the  greatest 
number  of  children  and  youth  under  Sunday-school  and  Bible  Class  in- 
struction of  any  Church  in  the  city,  if  not  in  the  eounti-y,  and  stood  among 
tlie  foremost  in  all  benevolent  and  Christian  work.  The  contributions  to 
missionaiy  and  other  charitable  objects  were  exceptionally  numerous  and 
large.  These  things  were,  imder  God,  the  legitimate  fruits  of  the  influence 
and  teaching  the  people  received  from  their  revered  rector. 

As  a  pastor.  Dr.  Tyng  was  unceasing  and  untiring  in  his  labors.  Per- 
sonal convenience  or  comfort  never  stood  in  the  way  of  his  ministering 
to  any  and  all  who  needed  his  services.  Among  the  poor  he  was  always 
a  warmly  welcomed  visitor.  They  felt  he  was  their  friend  and  helper. 
With  the  children  and  youth  he  Avas  a  special  favorite,  for  he  entered  most 
fully  into  their  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  identified  himself  with  their 
interests.  From  this  portion  of  his  peoi:)le  he  had  veiy  large  additions  to 
the  communion  of  liis  Church.  In  a  word,  among  all  classes,  the  old  and 
the  young,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  he  was  most  cordially  welcomed,  and  his 
ministrations  were  gTatefully  i-eceived  and  most  highly  prized. 

In  objects  of  general  benevolence,  Dr.  Tyng  took  a  lively  interest,  and 
to  them  devoted  much  attention.  He  sen-ed  on  many  boards  and  com- 
mittees, and  was  an  earnest  and  efl'ective  advocate  of  their  claims  on 
public  occasions.  The  announcement  of  his  name  as  a  speaker  was  sure 
to  draw  a  crowd. 

As  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  he  had  few  equals  in  his  day.  His  views 
were  distinctly  Evangelical,  and  he  never  failed  to  preach  Christ,  and  Him 
crucified,  as  the  only  hope  of  a  lost  world.  He  was  clear  and  emphatic  in 
his  presentation  of  the  truth,  and  his  ministry  was  greatly  honored  of  God, 


THE    TYNG    PERIOD  267 

and  through  it  great  numbers  were  brought   to   the   Saviour   and   to   the 
comforts  and  joys  of  His  great  salvation. 

Such,  briefly,  was  the  man,  the  preacher,  and  the  pastor  who  for  so 
many  years  ministered  in  this  church.  In  1878,  when  age  and  infirmities 
had  disabled  him,  he  retired  from  active  service,  but  retained  his  connection 
with  the  church  as  Rector  Emeritus. 

In  placing  this  minute  upon  its  record,  the  vestry  desire  to  express  their 
profound  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  the  gracious  Providence  which 
gave  to  this  church  such  a  gifted  and  faithful  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  sustained  him  through  so  many  years  of  arduous  labor. 

They  bow  in  humble  submission  to  the  dispensation  which  translated  him 
from  this  world  to  the  Church  triumphant  in  glory. 

Wm.  S.  Rainsford,  Rector. 
David  Dows 

W.  H.  ScHiEFFELiN,  Clerk. 


J.  PiERPONT  Morgan  '  Wardens. 


The  funeral  service  was  held  in  St.  George's  Church  on  Tuesday, 
September  8,  and  was  most  solemn  and  impressive.  Former  par- 
ishioners in  large  numbers  swelled  the  congregation  gathered  to  pay 
their  tribute  of  respect  and  affection  to  their  departed  rector's 
memory.  Other  religious  bodies  were  largely  represented  both  by 
ministers  and  people.  The  clergy  in  the  chancel  were  Bishop  Alfred 
Lee,  of  Delaware;  Bishop  Henry  C.  Potter,  of  New  York;  the  Eev. 
Dr.  Dix,  rector  of  Trinity  Church;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Newton, 
who  had  succeeded  Dr.  Tyng  both  in  St.  Paul's  Church  and  the 
Church  of  the  Epiphany  in  Philadelphia;  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  H. 
Benjamin,  of  Irvington;  the  Rev.  Dr.  W.  S.  Rainsford,  rector  of 
St.  George's,  and  its  assistant  clergy.  The  address  of  Bishop  Lee,  a 
lifelong  friend  of  Dr.  Tyng,  here  follows : 

The  course  is  finished.  The  weaiy  life-journey  ended.  The  day,  with 
its  early  brightness  and  promise,  its  meridian  fervor  and  shaded  evening 
is  closed.  The  voice  that  has  often  echoed  within  the  walls  of  this  spacious 
sanctuary,  and  which  has  aroused  many  a  slumbering  conscience,  is  now 
hushed,  and  the  lips  that  had  uttered  thrilling  exhortations  are  pallid  and 
dumb. 

Many  affecting  memories  are  awakened  by  this  solemn  funeral  occasion 
in  the  minds  of  those  Avho  knew  the  departed  rector  of  this  church  in  years 
gone  by.  We  recall  vividly,  not  the  decrepit  and  exhausted  invalid,  but 
the  powerful  advocate  for  truth  and  righteousness,  as  he  stood  up  in  his' 
manly  and  unimpaired  vigor,  an  earnest,  fearless  ambassador  for  Christ. 

The  current  of  life  at  the  present  day  flows  on  swiftly — old  landmarks 
soon  sink  in  the  distance — the  men  who  were  prominent  a  few  yeai-s  back 
are  now  almost  forgotten — names  and  events  of  a  half-centuiy  or  a  quarter- 
century  ago  seem  already  historical.  But  if  the  world  loses  sight  of  well- 
known  forms  and  the  recollections  of  the  Church  grow  faint  and  dim.  the 
life-work  of  Stephen  H.  Tyng  is  not  destined  to  perish.  '  He  that  doeth 
the  will  of  God  abideth  forever.'     His  handwriting  was  not  upon  the  sand, 


268  HISTORY    Or    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

to  be  effaced  by  the  returning  wave — but  is  inscribed  in  an  everlasting 
register,  and  indelibly  stamped  upon  souls  won  for  Christ.  '  I  have  chosen 
you  and  ordained  you  that  ye  should  go  and  bring  forth  fruit,  and  that 
your  fruit  sliould  remain.'  What  is  done  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  abiding  and  irajierishable.  Thei-e  are  those,  not  a  few, 
now  living  unto  God,  active  in  the  Master's  service,  who  were  brought 
under  his  ministi*y  to  the  Saviour's  feet,  some  of  them,  doubtless,  in  this 
assembly  to-day.  There  are  others,  probably  a  still  greater  number,  who 
have  preceded  him  and  have  crossed  the  boundai*y  line,  and,  it  may  be,  now 
bail  with  joy  his  entrance  into  their  blessedness. 

Dr.  Tyng  was  a  man  heartilj^  engaged  in  many  departments  of  Christian 
labor — a  busy  man  while  his  working-day  lasted—'  not  slothful  in  business, 
fervent  in  spirit.'  He  did  with  his  might  what  his  hand  found  to  do,  and 
never  overlooked  or  neglected  any  of  his  pastoral  duties.  But  it  was  pre- 
eminently as  a  preacher  that  he  improved  liis  talents,  honored  his  Lord,  and 
served  his  generation.  Those  who  listened  to  him  in  the  culmination  of  his 
powers  cannot  forget  the  impression  made  by  his  sermons.  Our  Church 
at  that  period  was  small  in  numbers  and  extent  compared  with  its  present 
state;  but  its  j^ulpit  was  adorned  by  a  number  of  ministers  who,  we  may 
assert  without  disparagement  to  the  present  day,  liave  not  been  since  sur- 
passed. The  sermons  of  such  men  as  Mellvaine,  Bedell,  Hawks,  the  Johnses, 
Elliott,  Burgess,  Vinton,  and  others  Avhom  I  coidd  name,  were  eloquent 
and  instructive  in  a  high  degi-ee,  full  of  thought  and  beauty,  and  pervaded 
with  an  unction  from  above.  Among  these  eminent  and  honored  preachers 
of  the  Word,  Dr.  Tyng  stood  in  the  front  rank.  Each  had  his  peculiar 
excellences,  one  distinguished  in  this  respect  and  another  in  that.  In  some 
points  our  departed  brother  was  not  behind  the  chiefest.  There  was  in- 
tense energy,  burning  zeal,  direct  and  pointed  application,  which  powerfully 
affected  his  hearers.  He  was  remarkably  gifted  as  an  extempore  speaker. 
His  words  flowed  in  an  imbroken  stream,  a  torrent  of  thought  and  feeling 
that  carried  congregations  with  him.  He  never  hesitated  for  a  word — and 
the  word  used  seemed  always  the  most  fitting — and  his  sentences  were  as 
well  rounded  and  complete  as  if  carefully  elaborated  at  the  desk.  But 
while  so  fluent  in  utterance,  he  did  not  become  mei'ely  rhetorical  or  de- 
clamatory. His  sermons  were  enriched  by  the  fruits  of  patient  study  and 
previous  preparation.  He  was  a  diligent  reader,  and  specially  a  close  stu- 
dent of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  '  The  law  of  the  Lord  was  dearer  to  him 
than  thousands  of  gold  and  silver,'  his  occupation  by  day  and  meditation 
by  night,  and  he  poured  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new  and  old.  One 
main  attraction  and  element  of  power  was  the  scriptural  character  of  his 
teaching,  and  his  lectures  and  expositions  were  exceedingly  vivid,  clear,  and 
interesting.  His  hearers  gained  new  and  striking  views  of  the  beauty  and 
fulness  of  the  Avord  of  God,  and  went  from  the  church  to  their  Bibles  with 
increased  zest  and  profit. 

A  marked  characteristic  of  Dr.  Tjmg's  sermons  and  of  his  whole  bearing, 
was  fearlessness.  If  he  was  for  many  years,  in  the  best  sense,  a  popular 
preacher,  he  never  sought  popularity  by  concealment  or  compromise  of  his 
views  of  tnith  and  duty.  He  never  consulted  the  prejudices  of  his  hearers, 
nor  kept  back  aught  that  was  profitable  lest  he  should  give  offence.  Under 
all  circumstances  his  courage  was  unfailing.  Those  who  attended  his  min- 
istry must  count  upon  being  foi'cibly  reminded  of  duties  and  being  plainly 
Avarned  against  sins.     To  some  persons  his  boldness  might  sometimes  seem 


THE     TYNG    PERIOD  269 

to  border  on  defiance,  but  his  governing  impulse  was  the  desire  to  be 
faithful  to  the  Master  whom  he  served,  and  to  the  souls  over  whom  he 
watched  as  one  that  must  give  account.  And  with  boldness  of  rebuke 
he  always  set  forth  redeeming  love  in  the  most  full  and  persuasive  rejjre- 
sentations. 

He  magnified  the  Lord  Jesus  in  all  His  offices  of  power  and  grace.  The 
living,  life-giving,  loving  Christ  illumined  his  appeals;  and  if  he  sometimes 
seemed  severe,  he  could  also  be  tender  and  affectionate,  and  such  exi^ressions 
from  his  lips  came  with  great  effect. 

The  subject  of  these  remarks  was  indeed  a  strong  man — strong  in  his 
native  endowments,  intellectual  and  physical — a  quick,  active,  penetrating 
mind  in  a  vigorous  frame.  Had  he  chosen  another  calling,  embarked,  for  in- 
instance,  in  political  life,  he  would  have  been  one  to  sway  by  his  impetuous 
and  fiery  eloquence,  great  masses  of  men,  as  well  as  to  command  the  attention 
of  listening  senates.  He  was  strong  in  faith,  decided  in  his  convictions,  hold- 
ing the  truths  which  he  had  adopted  with  vise-like  tenacity.  He  believed, 
therefore  he  spake.  He  was  strong  in  his  apprehensions  of  the  magnitude 
of  his  office  and  the  everlasting  results  of  his  ministry.  He  was  strong  in 
his  knowledge  of  men  and  discernment  of  character  and  direct  aiDplieation 
of  truth  to  the  heart  and  conscience. 

The  closing  years  of  life,  when  laid  aside  by  the  providence  of  God  from 
the  duties  of  his  calling,  might  suggest  to  those  who  knew  him  in  his  prime 
the  exclamation,  '  How  is  the  strong  staff  broken,  and  the  beautiful  rod !' 
But  an  aged  and  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord  is  not  forsaken,  nor  less 
loved,  because  his  strength  faileth.  The  treasure  is  placed  in  an  earthen 
vesesl,  and  the  vessel  of  clay  is  subject  to  deterioration  and  infirmity.  But 
it  is  the  casket  that  is  impaired,  not  the  jewel.  In  the  glowing  language 
of  St.  Paul,  to  wliich  we  have  just  listened,  we  find  exceeding  consolation 
for  such  an  event  as  temijorary  eclipse  and  failure :  '  So  also  is  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead.  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  ineorruption ; 
it  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glor}';  it  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is 
raised  in  power:  it  is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  sj^iritual  body. 
There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body.  And,  as  we  have 
borne  the  image  of  the  earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly.' 
With  the  natural  body  we  associate  corruption,  dishonor,  and  weakness. 
Though  so  admirable  in  its  structure,  it  may  become  a  wreck.  The  harp 
of  thousand  strings,  disarranged  and  out  of  tune,  is  no  longer  able  to  dis- 
course eloquent  music.  But  to  the  spiritual  body  are  ascribed  ineorruption, 
glon,^,  and  power.  It  shall  rise  from  ashes  and  decay  to  immortality, 
fashioned  like  unto  Christ's  glorious  body.  Such,  to-day,  is  the  hope  that 
cheers  us  respecting  our  brother  departed.  The  Lord  grant  that  our  part 
may  be  with  him  ui  the  resurrection  of  the  just. 

The  interment  was  in  Greenwood  Cemetery,  and  by  the  open 
grave  the  presence  of  the  rector  of  Old  Trinity,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morgan 
Dix,  was  specially  noted  by  those  familiar  with  the  associated  his- 
tories of  Trinity  and  St.  George's  and  appreciated  as  a  mark  of 
official  respect  and  personal  regard. 

In  the  biographical  sketch  of  Dr.  Tyr\g  will  be  found  various 
characterizations  of  the  man,  but  the  following  extract  from  the 


270  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Bishop's  address  to  the  Diocesan  Convention  within  the  month  of 
his  decease  may  fitly  close  this  record: 

Our  record  of  departed  clergy  ends  with  the  death  of  Dr.  Stephen  H. 
Tyng,  Rector  Emeritus  of  St.  George's  Church  in  this  city.  Dr.  Tyng's 
departure  terminated  a  connection  with  the  venerable  parish  of  which  he 
was  rector  extending  over  nearly  forty  years — the  most  of  them  fruitful 
in  their  influence  upon  individual  souls,  to  a  rare  and  exceptional  degree. 
No  one  who  was  in  the  vast  throng  in  St.  George's  Church  on  the  day  of 
his  funeral  could  have  well  mistaken  its  signifiieance.  It  was  an  assemblage 
representing  the  people  of  all  classes,  drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  city  and 
from  distant  neighborhoods  as  well.  It  was  a  testimony  to  a  ministry  of 
commending  qualities  and  of  enduring  results.  Dr.  Tyng  was  pre-eminently 
a  preacher.  His  pulpit  was  his  throne,  his  voice  a  trumpet,  and  his  whole 
personality  one  that  compelled  attention,  even  where  it  did  not  command 
assent.  But  besides  this,  his  seiwices  in  the  missionary  work  in  this  city, 
the  mission  chapels  which,  under  his  leadership,  his  people  reared  and 
maintained,  his  immense  Sunday-school,  in  which  it  has  been  said  that  he 
knew  eveiy  child  by  name,  his  power  on  the  platform  as  the  exponent  of 
great  reforms,  his  devotion  to  the  school  of  theology  which  supremely 
reverenced  the  Bible  and  the  voice  of  the  individual  conscience  as  enlight- 
ened by  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost — all  these  features  of  his  character  and 
ministry  would  have  made  him  a  leader  in  any  community,  and  an  earnest 
figaire  in  any  age. 

There  have  been  those  who  have  counted  lum  as  disesteeming  the  Church 
of  his  fathers,  and  undervaluing  its  apostolic  order  and  ministry.  But  his 
public  works  remain  to  contradict  such  an  impression,  and  his  vast  con- 
firmation classes  to  witness,  as  his  Bishop  said  to  him  many  years  ago,  that 
almost  no  one  else  had  been  instrumental,  in  this  or  any  other  Diocese,  in 
bringing  so  many  candidates  for  confirmation,  bom  and  matured  amid 
other  associations,  within  the  influence  of  the  Church's  doctrine  and  fellow- 
ship. Like  all  men  of  his  temperament.  Dr.  Tyng  had  strong  antagonisms, 
and  was  not  always  careful  in  avoiding  and  expressing  and  emphasizing 
them;  but  there  are  pages  in  the  history  of  this  diocese  which,  if  they  could 
be  written  here,  would  show  that  he  could  illustrate  the  noblest  and  most 
generous  magnanimity  and  a  large  spirit  of  Christian  brotherhood.  The 
Church  witnesses  to  her  catholic  mind  in  the  honoring  of  such  men  as  he, 
even  as  she  illustrates  her  many-sided  adaptedness  in  finding  a  place  for 
their  rare  gifts,  and  a  sphere  for  their  powerful  influence. 


-^ 


^, 


<^ 


=^ 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND     INTERIM 

(1878-1882) 

The  situation  at  the  beginning  of  Dr.  Williams's  rectorship  was 
one  of  extreme  difficulty.  The  exodus  from  the  vicinity  of  the  church 
of  so  many  of  the  substantial  families  who  had  contributed  to  the 
prestige  and  efficiency  of  St.  George's  was  proceeding  in  accelerated 
movement.  The  income  from  pew  rents  had  been  steadily  diminish- 
ing since  1873,  at  which  time  they  amounted  to  $13,224.55,  and  were 
now  estimated  by  the  pew  committee  at  $7,000  to  $7,500.  The  an- 
nual deficit  arising  from  expenses  over  income  had  been  met  by 
issuing  notes  of  the  corporation,  which  at  this  time  aggregated 
$17,500,  and  the  total  assets  over  liabilities  showed  a  shrinkage  of 
the  endowment  or  productive  property  to  $77,500.  It  was  proposed 
in  October  that  unrented  pews  should  be  offered  at  low  rents,  and 
the  matter  was  referred  to  the  rector  and  treasurer  with  power. 
In  December  the  vestry  appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Stearns,  Dows,  Morgan,  and  Spencer  ' '  to  take  into  consideration  the 
financial  condition  of  this  corporation  and  recommend  some  course 
for  the  future,  and  to  report  as  soon  as  possible." 

Meanwhile  propositions  for  retrenchment  by  abridging  the  mission 
work  at  the  chapels  were  being  considered,  with  the  ultimate  result 
that  the  chapel  properties  were  sold,  the  proceeds  turned  into  the 
treasury  of  the  corporation,  and  the  work  abandoned,  after  a  futile 
attempt  to  incorporate  it  in  any  large  degree  with  the  worship  or 
Sunday-school  of  the  parish  church. 

The  first  step  in  this  direction  was  taken  October  11,  1877,  when 
a  preamble  reciting  ' '  that  the  funds  for  the  support  of  the  missions 
of  this  church  will  not  suffice  to  carry  on  the  same  on  the  present 
plan,"  prefaced  an  instruction  to  the  Mission  Trustees  to  terminate 
that  branch  of  their  work  heretofore  carried  on  by  the  Rev.  J.  C. 
Fleischhacker.     The  German  work  had  well  served  the  purpose  for 


272  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

which  it  was  originally  undertaken  at  a  time  when  a  large  number 
of  German  families  unable  to  speak  English  had  become  resident  in 
the  district  to  which  St.  George's  was  ministering.  But  now  the 
children  having  grown  up  in  the  daily  use  of  that  language,  and 
it  seeming  undesirable  to  continue  to  give  public  instruction  in  a 
foreign  tongue,  and  further,  as  preaching  services  in  German  were 
being  maintained  in  the  neighborhood  under  the  auspices  of  "  The 
Church  German  Society, ' '  it  seemed  wise  to  transfer  the  entire  Sun- 
day-school work  in  Fourteenth  Street  to  the  superintendent  and 
teachers  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Bread  of  Life,  who,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, occupied  the  chapel  jointly  with  the  German  Mission.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Fleischhacker  cordially  co-operated  in  the  readjustments 
made  necessary  by  the  change,  and  many  of  the  children  of  the 
German  Mission  were  absorbed  in  the  larger  Sunday-school,  so  that 
at  the  following  Easter  an  average  attendance  of  800  was  reported. 
Mr.  Fleischhacker  having  requested  the  use  of  the  chapel  on  Six- 
teenth Street  for  a  Sunday-evening  service,  the  vestry  granted  the 
request,  and  his  congregation  soon  succeeded  in  organizing  them- 
selves into  an  independent  church.  In  April,  1878,  a  communication 
was  received  from  him  asking  for  the  loan  and  use  of  the  following 
articles — viz.,  a  font,  pulpit,  melodeon,  two  clocks,  twenty-seven 
benches,  German  Bibles  and  books,  pictures,  and  two  banners,  to 
which  the  vestry  made  a  favorable  response. 

A  committee  was  appointed  December  8,  1877,  "  to  inquire  into 
the  expediency  of  consolidating  our  missionary  work  in  the  Four- 
teenth Street  chapel,"  with  a  view  to  disposing  of  the  Nineteenth 
Street  property;  and  in  the  same  month  it  was  ordered  "  that  no 
engagement  of  a  minister  for  the  Chapel  of  Free  Grace  be  made 
after  the  term  of  the  present  incumbent  shall  have  expired."  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Buchanan  promptly  tendered  his  resignation  to  take  effect 
after  Easter,  which  was  accepted  by  the  vestry  with  the  assurance 
"  that  in  parting  from  the  ser^dce  of  this  church  he  will  bear  with 
him  our  affectionate  regard  and  esteem  and  our  hope  that  the  divine 
favor  on  his  evangelic,  diligent,  and  zealous  ministry  as  manifested 
in  this  parish  may  be  continued  in  every  field  of  duty  to  which  he 
may  be  called." 

The  rector  was  authorized  to  employ  a  missionary  to  assist  tem- 
porarily in  the  work  of  the  church  at  a  rate  of  salary  not  exceeding 
two  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  Mission  Fund. 
The  following  communication  from  W.  H.  Philips,  W.  G.  Dominick, 
and  F.  P.  Marshall,  recommending  the  sale  of  the  Fourteenth  Street 
chapel  and  the  transference  of  its  work  to  the  church,  was  received 


THE     WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND    INTERIM  273 

by  the  vestry  May  9,  1878,  and  laid  on  the  table  for  future  con- 
sideration : 

To  the  Bector  and  Vestry  of  Saint  George's  Church. 
Gentlemen  : 

We  are  informed  that  the  congregation  connected  with  Rev.  Dr.  Hall's 
Church  have  determined  to  build  or  purchase  a  chapel  for  the  use  of  their 
mission  in  Fourteenth  Street  in  the  iuunediate  vicinity  of  the  Bread  of  Life 
Chapel  and  that  a  considerable  sum  has  been  raised  for  this  object.  There 
are  now  chapels  enough  in  our  neighborhood,  and  except  on  sectarian 
grounds  there  is  no  reason  why  another  should  be  opened  there.  If  it  is 
done  it  will  inevitably  inaugurate  an  unwholesome  and  unwelcome  competi- 
tion into  which  we  will  be  forced  to  enter  with  manifest  disadvantage  and 
for  no  good  in  result.  Six  months'  exi^erienee  in  our  present  position  has 
taught  us  our  weakness,  and  that  we  cannot  possibly  draw  the  helj)  we 
require  to  continue  the  work  on  its  present  basis  from  om'  own  Church, 
and  that  we  are  by  no  means  prepared  to  compete  with  the  numbers  and 
resources  a  Church  like  Dr.  Hall's  can  furnish  to  maintain  a  rival  chapel. 
If  we  could  command  the  sendee  of  every  worker  in  St.  George's  Church, 
we  would  still  need  additional  help  and  we  believe  it  unwise  to  attempt 
more  than  we  can  properly  perform. 

We  believe  that  advantage  should  be  taken  of  the  opportunity  to  sell  the 
Fourteenth  Street  chapel  while  it  is  offered  and  that  Dr.  Hall's  people,  who 
are  determined  to  have  a  chapel  of  their  own  be  allowed  to  occupy  the  field 
and  continue  the  work. 

Further  we  suggest  that  the  Church  call  in  its  workers,  unite  and  con- 
centrate them  in  the  Sixteenth  Street  chapel  in  an  earnest  effort  to  add  to 
its  numbers  and  to  its  strength. 

We  therefore  recommend  that  the  Fourteenth  Street  chapel  be  sold  for 
value  to  Dr.  Hall's  cong-regation,  reserving  furniture  and  fixtures  that  will 
be  needed  elsewhere. 

It  is  important  that  this  whole  matter  should  be  kept  as  secret  as  pos- 
sible that  the  attachment  of  our  fi'iends  may  not  be  weakened  by  any  open 
agitation  of  the  subject. 

Wm,  H.  Philips. 
W.  Gayer  Dominick. 
F.  P.  Marshall. 

New  York,  May  6th,  1878. 

At  a  vestry  meeting  held  May  31,  1878.  the  rector  read  a  state- 
ment which  he  had  prep.ared,  setting  forth  the  present  weakened 
state  of  the  parish  and  urging  a  concentration  of  the  parish  work 
at  the  church.  After  a  discussion  in  which  all  took  part,  resolutions 
were  unanimously  adopted  appointing  a  committee  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Dows,  Llorgan,  and  Mead  to  negotiate  for  the  sale  of  the 
property  in  East  Fourteenth  Street  now  occupied  by  the  Chapel 
of  the  Bread  of  Life.  Another  committee  was  charged  with  the 
duty  of  making  such  arrangements  for  the  transfer  of  the  teachers 
18 


274  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

and  scholars  of  the  Fourteenth  Street  mission  as  would  be  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  parish. 

The  music  committee  was  authorized  to  install  a  steam  engine  in 
the  basement  of  the  church  for  the  purpose  of  blowing  the  organ. 
This  engine  was  a  gift  to  the  church  by  Mr.  J.  Noble  Stearns  and 
its  cost  complete  was  about  $650. 

In  October,  1878,  the  treasurer  of  the  Mission  Chapels  reported 
to  the  vestry  that  the  total  receipts  from  June  last  had  been  $1,286.04 
and  that  $4,137.22  additional  would  be  required  to  carry  on  the 
work  until  May  1,  1879.  The  rector  was  authorized  to  employ  the 
Rev.  J.  Rice  Taylor  as  his  assistant  in  the  Nineteenth  Street  chapel 
at  a  salary  not  exceeding  $900  till  May  1st  next. 

On  November  7,  1878,  the  special  committee  appointed  to  negotiate 
for  the  sale  of  the  Fourteenth  Street  chapel  submitted  a  report 
of  the  progress  of  their  negotiations,  including  the  correspondence 
with  Mr.  Henry  Day  representing  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church  and  resulting  in  an  offer  by  him  of  $27,500  for  the  property. 
By  unanimous  action  the  offer  contained  in  this  report  was  accepted. 

In  the  preceding  month  the  rector  had  presented  to  the  superin- 
tendent and  teachers  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Bread  of  Life  a  plan  by 
which  the  removal  of  the  Sunday-school  to  St.  George's  Chapel 
might  be  effected,  with  a  view  to  its  consolidation  with  the  parish 
Sunday-school,  the  united  schools  to  be  called  The  Sunday-school  of 
St.  George's  Church.  This  plan  was  cordially  approved  by  the 
vestry,  and  their  earnest  desire  was  formally  expressed  that  the 
plan  should  "  be  accepted  by  Mr.  Philips  and  his  band  of  teachers 
and  scholars."  But  the  officers  and  teachers  of  the  Bread  of  Life 
Mission  met  November  17th  and  resolved  to  "  respectfully  decline 
the  invitation  tendered  to  remove  our  work  to  the  Sixteenth  Street 
chapel."  The  reasons  given  for  this  action  were  that  the  accom- 
modations in  Sixteenth  Street  would  be  inadequate ;  that  the  loss 
of  their  distinctive  name  would  drive  from  them  many  teachers 
and  scholars ;  and  that  they  could  not  feel  assured  of  entire  con- 
fidence and  cordial  sympathy  in  the  new  surroundings.  The  vestry 
met  these  objections  by  expressing  willingness  to  provide  all  the 
accommodations  that  experience  should  prove  necessary;  by  setting 
forth  that  St.  George's  was  the  appropriate  name  for  the  consoli- 
dated schools  gathered  in  the  Home  Chapel;  and  by  assuring  the 
chapel  workers  of  the  vestry 's  ' '  full  sympathy  and  co-operation  with 
them  in  the  Sunday-school  work  of  the  church."  Many  of  the 
teachers,  however,  were  loth  to  give  up  their  name  and  identity, 
and  a  farewell  meeting  of  teachers  and  scholars  was  held  at  the 


THE     WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND    INTERIM  275 

chapel  on  Sunday  evening,  November  24th.  The  school  was  there- 
fore disbanded,  but  many  of  those  connected  with  it  identified  them- 
selves with  the  Sunday-school  of  St.  George's. 

The  committee  to  negotiate  the  sale  of  the  Fourteenth  Street 
chapel  made  its  final  report  to  the  vestry  January  9,  1879.  The 
property  had  been  deeded  to  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church 
for  a  consideration  of  $27,500,  which  had  been  paid  to  the  treas- 
urer, the  bell,  organ,  and  other  movables  having  been  reserved.  A 
committee  was  appointed  at  this  meeting  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Spencer,  Stearns,  and  Reynolds  to  supervise  the  mission  work  of 
the  church,  which  committee  reported  March  13th  that  there  would 
be  a  deficit  in  the  fund  for  carrying  on  the  work  of  $400.  A  special 
committee  was  thereupon  after  discussion  instructed  "  to  inquire 
into  the  expediency  and  feasibility  of  disposing  of  the  chapel  in 
Nineteenth  Street  by  sale  or  lease  so  as  to  avoid  further  expense  to 
this  Corporation. 

The  music  committee  was  authorized  at  this  same  meeting  to 
employ  a  choir  of  men  and  boys  and  to  prepare  for  establishing  them 
in  the  chancel.     But  the  committee  at  the  next  meeting  reported: 

Since  the  last  meeting  of  this  vestry  the  Committee  on  Music  have  given 
much  time  and  consideration  and  a  thorough  examination  to  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  music  for  St.  George's  Church  and  have  come  to  the  following  con- 
elusions  : 

First. — That  the  introduction  of  a  chancel  organ  and  chancel  choir  in  the 
church  at  present  does  not  seem  to  be  practicable. 

Second — That  the  fixing  the  appropriation  for  music  for  the  coming 
year  at  anything  less  than  $3,000,  the  present  grant,  will  probably  result 
in  our  having  music  less  acceptable  than  in  the  past  year,  and  therefore 
notwithstanding  the  depressed  condition  of  the  finances,  we  recommend  a 
continuance  of  at  least  the  present  sum  granted,  namely  $3,000. 

Third. — We  submit  whether  the  true  interests  of  St.  George's  Church  do 
not  lie  in  improving  this  important  branch  of  the  church  worshijo  rather 
than  in  allowing  it  to  deteriorate  through  lack  of  support  of  this  vestry. 
Other  churches  are  finding  benefit  from  giving  added  attention  to  their 
music.  Hearty  and  elevating  worship  can  only  be  obtained  tlrrough  the 
services  and  leadership  of  skilled  musicians  and  these  to  be  secured  must  be 
paid  liberally.  They  cannot  be  had  otherwise.  The  present  labors  and 
etforts  of  this  committee  fully  convince  them  of  this. 

The  report  was  favorably  received  and  the  appropriation  asked  for 
was  granted. 

The  Rev.  Newton  Perkins  was  invited  by  the  rector,  under  date 
of  June  6,  1879,  to  become  a  "  fellow-laborer  and  one  whose  gifts 
could  have  free  play  in  this  dense  and  crowded  part  of  the  city," 
and  on  the  19th  he  reported  to  the  vestry  that  he  had  appointed 


276  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Mr,  Perkins  as  his  assistant  for  twelve  months  from  July  1st  at  a 
salary  of  $1,300,  which  action  was  approved. 

At  the  same  meeting  the  Committee  on  Music  reported  '"  that 
they  had  inducted  Mr.  Burdett  Mason  as  organist  and  choirmaster 
of  St.  George's  Church  and  had  introduced  a  choir  of  men  and  boys 
to  carry  on  the  musical  service  in  fulfilment  of  the  expressed  wishes 
of  the  vestry."  But  in  March  of  the  following  year  it  was  voted 
that  it  was  inexpedient,  in  the  opinion  of  this  vestry,  to  employ  a 
boy  choir  after  Easter. 

A  solution  of  the  problem  confronting  the  parish  in  view  of  the 
increasing  removals  of  parishioners  and  the  decreasing  revenue  was 
to  be  found,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  in  the  removal  of  the  church 
to  an  up-town  site.  A  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Spencer, 
Stearns,  and  Dows  had  been  appointed  May  8,  1879,  "  to  report  on 
a  location  and  plan  for  building  a  church  up-town  to  report  at  an 
early  day."  This  committee  made  a  preliminary  report  November 
13,  1879.  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan  was  added  to  the  committee  and  power 
conferred  upon  it  to  contract  for  the  purchase  of  property  on  which 
to  erect  a  new  edifice.  Judge  Curtis  dissenting.  The  committee 
further  reported  December  13,  1879,  "  that  it  had  been  decided  to 
open  a  subscription  list  to  see  how  much  could  be  depended  upon 
for  the  erection  of  a  new  church  edifice,  but  that  no  site  had  been 
selected. ' ' 

At  the  same  meeting  a  committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with 
the  rector  upon  the  whole  subject  of  his  salary,  with  the  result  that 
at  the  next  meeting,  January  8,  1880,  .$1,500  was  appropriated 
to  the  rector,  in  addition  to  his  salary,  for  his  services  during  the 
year  ending  May  1st  next. ' '  It  was  also  voted  February  12th  ' '  that 
if  the  funds  of  the  mission  chapel  of  the  church  justify  it,  the  salary 
of  the  Rev.  Newton  Perkins  be  raised  to  $1,800  from  January  1, 
1880." 

On  the  5th  of  March  occurred  the  lamented  death  of  "William 
A.  Haines,  a  former  member  of  the  vestry  and  sometime  treasurer  of 
the  corporation.  He  was  a  man  of  broad  culture  and  of  large 
affairs,  a  scientist  of  high  attainments,  especially  in  the  line  of 
conchology,  in  which  he  was  a  diligent  and  skilled  collector,  vice- 
president,  and  chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History  in  Central  Park,  a  trustee  of  the  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company ;  and  in  the  affairs  of  the  church  he  was  pains- 
taking, faithful,  liberal,  and  efficient.  He  had  been  a  communicant 
in  St.  George's  since  1848.  The  vestry  requested  the  Rector 
Emeritus  to  prepare  a  suitable  memorial,  which  was  signed  by  the 


THE     WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND     INTERIM  277 

entire  vestry,  copied  into  the  records,  and  the  original,  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Dr.  Tyng,  was  sent  to  Mrs.  Haines. 

The  Oratorio  Society,  having  been  permitted  by  the  vestry  to 
render  Bach's  Passion  Music  in  the  church,  a  letter  to  the  rector, 
under  date  of  Trinity  Parish,  St.  John's  Clergy  Rooms,  March  19, 
1880,  was  received  from  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Cooke  expressing  profound 
appreciation  of  the  kindness  and  courtesy  of  the  vestry  in  the  mat- 
ter; and  a  further  official  recognition  came  later  from  Abner  L. 
Train,  secretary  of  the  society,  cordially  acknowledging  the  liber- 
ality of  the  vestry  and  the  enthusiastic  spirit  with  which  it  co- 
operated in  rendering  possible  the  successful  recital  of  Bach's  sub- 
lime composition. 

The  lamented  death  of  Hon.  William  E.  Curtis,  a  vestryman  and 
for  the  last  twenty-six  years  a  communicant  of  St,  George's,  was 
the  occasion  of  the  special  meeting  of  the  vestry,  October  7,  1880, 
which  adopted  a  minute  which  was  sent  to  the  family  and  published 
in  the  church  papers  in  which  it  was  said :  ' '  He  has  left  with  us  a 
grateful  memory  of  his  exemplary  life  and  of  his  steadfast  interest 
in  this  Church  and  wise  counsels  in  its  affairs.  His  valuable  services 
in  the  care  of  the  Public  Schools  and  as  President  of  the  Board  of 
Education  and  his  honorable  career  as  Chief  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  were  worthy  fruits  of  the  Christian  faith  and  virtue  which  he 
maintained. ' ' 

The  death  of  a  former  member  of  the  vestry,  Ross  W.  Wood,  who 
departed  this  life  on  the  12th  of  April  last,  one  week  before  com- 
pleting his  eighty-fifth  year,  and  who  was  a  vestryman  from  Easter, 
1854,  to  December,  1869,  when  he  resigned  by  reason  of  his  ad- 
vanced age,  was  at  this  time  thus  noted  on  the  minutes :  '  *  We  de- 
clare our  personal  regard  for  him,  our  respect  for  his  Christian 
character,  and  our  appreciation  of  his  aid  in  sustaining  the  charities 
of  the  Church  and  his  constant  and  judicious  service  in  the  business 
of  the  vestry;  and  we  condole  with  his  family  on  the  loss  of  its 
venerable  head." 

The  General  Convention  of  the  Church  honored  St.  George's  as 
its  place  of  meeting  in  October,  1880,  for  what  proved  to  be  one  of 
the  most  memorable  sessions  in  its  history.  The  condensed  account 
of  it  here  given  is  from  Bishop  Perry's  History  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church: 

The  General  Convention  of  1880  met  in  the  City  of  New  York  under 
circumstances  of  gi-eat  interest.  The  exciting  questions  which  had  occupied 
the  time  of  preceding  conventions,  to  the  exclusion  of  many  important 
matters  of  a  practical  nature  and  had  well-nigh  rent  the  church  in  twain,. 


278  HISTORY     OP     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

were  no  longer  discussed.  The  Cliureh,  ceasing  to  concern  itself  about  the 
mint,  anise,  and  cummin  of  ritual,  or  the  shibboleths  of  party,  had  arisen 
to  a  new  life  and  a  more  hearty  consecration.  He  '  who  maketh  men  to 
be  of  one  mind  in  an  house,'  in  giving  unity,  had  added  the  purpose  and 
power  for  aggressive  effort.  It  was  felt  and  confessed  that  the  making  of 
canons  and  the  amendment  of  the  constitution,  imj^ortant  as  these  measures 
might  possibly  have  been  in  the  past  or  might  be  again  at  some  future  day, 
were  not  so  important  as  the  consideration  of  c^uestions  relating  to  the 
spiritual  life  or  the  outward  growth  of  the  Church  of  God. 

The  missions  of  the  Church  were  found  to  be  of  such  absorbing  interest 
and  such  commanding  imiDoiiance  that  much  of  the  time  of  the  two  Houses, 
sitting  together  as  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Church,  was  given  to  the 
Chui'ch's  aggressive  work.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  our  Church 
the  missionary  bishops,  both  of  the  home  and  foreign  field  and  those 
western  bishops  into  whose  sees  the  tide  of  immigration  was  pouring  with 
unexampled  rapidity,  found  a  welcome  and  a  hearing  in  the  presence  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Chixrch  at  large;  and  could  tell  the  story  of  the 
spiritual  needs  of  their  jurisdiction  and  the  difficulties  and  trials  environing 
them  in  their  arduous  work — an  opportunity  never  offered  them  before. 
As  might  have  been  anticipated,  the  Church  in  Convention  assembled,  stirred 
by  the  appeals  and  aroused  by  the  enthusiasm  and  devotion  of  her  mission- 
ary apostles,  awoke  to  a  desire  and  inaugiirated  efforts  to  make  herself  the 
Church  of  the  land  and  the  Church  of  the  people,  entering  with  full  pur- 
pose of  heart  and  greater  vigor  than  ever  before  into  the  work  of  missions 
at  home,  abroad,  in  all  the  world. 

To  this,  the  '  Missionary  Convention,'  there  gathered  a  representation 
of  bishops,  clerg3',  and  laity  larger  by  far  than  ever  before.  The  conviction 
of  our  catholicity  on  the  part  of  those  who  had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  the 
Romish  infallibility  was  attested  by  the  presence  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Edward 
Herzog,  D.D.,  the  Christian-Catholic  Bishop  of  Switzerland,  who  by  his 
participation  in  the  services,  sacraments,  and  daily  sessions  of  the  con- 
vention was  brought  into  intimate  relation  with  a  Church  catholic,  but  not 
Roman;  protesting  against  error,  but  neither  rationalistic  nor  infidel.  The 
Swiss  bishop,  vested  in  his  alb  and  richly  embroidered  cope  and  wearing 
his  pectoral  cross,  formed  a  novel  and  picturesque  feature  in  the  long 
procession  of  bishops  at  the  opening  service  in  St.  George's,  New  York. 
The  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Henry  Cotterill,  representing  the  Church 
whence  Seabury  received  the  succession,  was  also  present  during  the  early 
days  of  this  convention,  as  was  a  bishop  and  svnodical  depvitation  from  the 
Canadian  church.  Three  missionary  bishops  were  elected,  and,  after  the 
rising  of  the  convention,  consecrated  to  their  apostolic  work  the  Rev. 
George  Kelley  Dunlop.  D.D.,  for  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  the  Rev.  Leigh 
Richmond  Brewer,  D.D.,  for  Montana,  and  the  Rev.  John  Adams  Paddock, 
D.D.,  for  Washington  Territory.  An  important  report  on  the  functions  of 
rectors  and  wardens  and  vestrymen  presented  in  the  ujiper  House  by  the 
Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  and  in  the  lower  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morgan  Dix  laid 
down  as  plain  principles  the  facts  that  the  Church  existed  before  any 
parishes,  that  the  clergj^  were  commissioned  to  their  office,  and  administra- 
tion before  any  parish  existed;  that  the  Church  and  the  ministiy  are  divine 
in  their  origin,  perpetual  in  their  existence,  and  essential  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  kingdom  of  Christ ;  that  the  vestry  is  a  purely  human  institu- 
tion,  a   creature   of   civil   law   or   conventional   an'angement,    and   utterly 


THE    WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND    INTERIM  279 

without  divine  authority  or  sanction,  and  consequently  that  the  wardens 
and  vestrymen  are  not  and  cannot  lawfully  or  scripturally  be  masters  and 
rulers  of  the  clergy;  but  they  are  auxiliary  to  the  clergy  as  important 
adjuncts  and  aids  in  the  work  in  which  they  have  been  set  by  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

In  the  adoption  of  an  outspoken  protest  against  the  toleration  of 
polygamy  in  the  Territory  of  Utah  as  seriously  impeding  '  the  work  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  and  the  best  interests  of  Christian  civilization';  m  the 
careful  consideration  given  to  the  affairs  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  in  Mexico; 
in  the  effort  to  secure  for  the  Indians  legal  protection  of  their  civil  rights 
by  placing  them  under  obedience  to  law ;  in  the  furtherance  of  the  work 
of  the  commission  on  ecclesiastical  relations  with  other  churches;  in  the 
comprehension  of  the  delegates  from  the  missionary  jurisdictions  to  the 
House  of  Deputies,  and  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Managers  in  the 
membershiji  of  the  missionary  society  of  the  Church;  in  the  organization  of 
a  chui'ch-building  commission ;  in  the  commendation  of  the  work  among  the 
colored  people,  and  the  adoption  of  a  scheme  of  systematic  beneficence  for 
missions;  and  in  the  discussion  of  the  questions  relating  to  the  tenure  of 
church  property,  the  Convention  showed  itself  to  be  occupied  with  matters 
of  expansion  and  work.  Party  spirit  found  no  opportunity  for  display  in 
a  session  where  every  day's  debate  and  labor  were  given  to  matters  of 
practical  work  or  to  questions  relating  to  the  spiritual  good  or  growth  of 
the  Church.  A  united  Convention,  imbued  with  the  missionary  spirit,  in- 
dicated a  Church  alive  to  its  Master's  will  and  word  and  at  peace  within. 

On  the  Sunday  following  the  close  of  the  General  Convention  a 
series  of  popular  evening  services  was  inaugurated  which  was  the 
precursor  of  the  free-church  movement  in  St.  George's.  The  assist- 
ant minister  secured  the  consent  of  the  rector  to  try  the  experiment 
of  a  free  evening  service  in  addition  to  the  worship  of  the  regular 
congregation  in  the  morning  and  afternoon,  believing  that  the  op- 
portunity should  be  offered  to  the  many  to  engage  in  a  hearty 
reverential  service  and  to  hear  the  best  of  preaching.  To  the  great 
satisfaction  of  all  interested,  the  church  was  crowded  to  its  capacity 
at  the  first  service,  which  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Newton  Perkins 
and  the  preacher  was  Canon  Knox-Little,  of  Manchester,  England. 
The  offerings  were  unusually  large  and  the  free  church  plan  as 
thus  applied  entailed  no  expense  to  the  vestry. 

This  movement  so  auspiciously  begun  was  favorably  regarded  by 
all  classes  of  Churchmen  and  the  clergy  of  the  city  cordially  co- 
operated by  occupying  the  pulpit.  Among  the  noted  preachers 
who  contributed  sermons  were  the  Rev.  Drs.  Henry  C.  Potter,  John 
Cotton  Smith,  Morgan  Dix,  Alexander  Mackay-Smith,  John  A. 
Paddock,  N.  H.  Schenck,  John  W.  Shackleford,  and  the  Rev.  Arthur 
Brooks.  The  comments  of  the  daily  press  on  the  new  departure 
were  most  favorable.  One  journal  said:  "  St.  George's  Parish  is 
showing  the  true  spirit  of  the  Master  in  dividing  with  others  the 


280  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

use  of  its  beautiful  house  of  worship  and  the  enjoyment  of  its  privi- 
leges of  commanding  the  best  pulpit  talent.  This  experiment  de- 
serves careful  study  and  may  lead  the  way  to  a  very  important 
work."    These  services  were  continued  until  June  11,  1882. 

The  treasurer  of  the  church,  Mr.  Henry  P.  Marshall,  in  con- 
nection with  his  regular  report  to  the  vestry  November  11,  1880, 
presented  also  the  following  report  of  a  visit  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng, 
Rector  Emeritus,  which  was  on  motion  entered  at  large  upon  the 
minutes : 

Calling  on  him  on  Saturday  evening  the  6th  of  November  to  give  him  a 
cheek  for  a  quarter  of  liis  annuity,  I  found  him  and  Mrs.  Tyng  in  his  library 
or  study. 

The  conversation  was  general,  referring  to  many  incidents  in  his  min- 
istry and  his  relations  to  members  of  St.  George's  Church  who  have  passed 
away.  Mrs.  Tyng  took  her  full  share  of  tliis  conversation  when  the  doctor 
suddenly  paused  and  said  to  Mrs.  Tyng,  '  I  have  something  to  say  to  Mr. 
Marshall  and  you  will  please  not  interruiit  me  until  I  am  through.' 

Holding  the  check  in  his  hand,  he  spoke  of  his  personal  friendships  with 
the  members  of  his  vestiy  and  then  said :  '  But  now  I  address  you  as  an 
officer  of  the  Corporation.  I  have,  said  he,  always  received  the  utmost 
consideration  hj  the  vestry  of  St.  George's,  my  wants  personal  and  official 
have  been  met  generouslj^  and  adequately,  and  I  look  back  on  my  ministry 
among  you  with  much  satisfaction  and  gratitude.  When  I  first  thought 
of  resigning  the  rectorship  with  its  cares  and  responsibility,  being  then  in 
comparative  good  health,  I  did  not  expect  that  the  Corporation  would  feel 
called  upon  to  contribute  to  my  support. 

You  can  imagine  my  feelings  when  in  infirmity  the  proi^osition  came  to 
me  that  in  such  an  event  I  should  be  amply  i^rovided  for  during  the  re- 
mainder of  my  life.  I  could  not  hesitate  as  to  the  course  I  should  adopt, 
and  now  I  wish  to  say  that  the  provision  is  a  munificent  one,  is  as  great 
an  honor  to  St.  George's  as  it  is  unexampled  in  the  history  of  the  church — 
an  obligation  I  feel  the  greater  because  the  annuity  was  the  spontaneous 
act  of  the  vestry  uninfluenced  by  me.  It  relieved  me  from  anxiety  and 
set  my  feet  upon  a  rock.  It  is  an  event  in  your  history  to  be  proud  of, 
it  is  to  me  an  ever-recurring  subject  of  thankfulness,  and  must  be  a  blessing 
to  the  giver  as  well  as  to  the  recipient.  I  wish  you  to  state  this  to  the  vestry 
with  my  prayers  for  the  continual  welfare  of  the  Church  in  all  its  interests 
and  the  officers  thereof.  I  cannot,'  continued  he,  '  exjDress  myself  too 
strongly  in  this  matter,'  and  he  repeated  again  and  again  his  gratitude  for 
the  provision  for  his  comfort  and  the  injunction  that  I  should  communicate 
the  same  to  the  vestiy. 

The  subject  of  erecting  a  new  structure  up-town  was  constantly 
pressing  itself  upon  the  attention  of  the  vestry,  and  the  committee 
on  property  was  requested  December  9,  1880,  to  inquire  whether 
the  Nineteenth  Street  chapel  can  now  be  sold  advantageously;  and 
in  view  of  its  possible  sale  a  committee  of  three  was  appointed  to 


THE     WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP     AND     INTERIM  281 

report  what  can  be  done  toward  procuring  a  site  for  a  chapel  up- 
town. In  the  following  month,  however,  this  action  was  taken: 
"  That  Messrs.  Spencer,  Dows,  Stearns,  and  Morgan  be  appointed 
a  committee  on  the  subject  of  a  new  church  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
city  and  requested  to  report  as  to  the  location  and  cost  thereof  and 
as  to  the  means  to  pay  for  the  same,  with  proposed  scheme  there- 
for." 

This  committee,  March  16,  1881,  made  the  following  report : 

The  undersigned,  a  committee  appointed  to  determine  upon  the  question 
of  removing  uiD-town,  have  examined  vai'ious  sites  and  concluded  that  by 
far  the  most  desirable  one  is  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Madison  Avenue 
and  Seventieth  Street,  or  the  northeast  corner  of  Madison  Avenue  and 
Sixty-ninth  Street,  both  properties  100  feet  on  the  avenue  and  150  feet 
deep,  either  of  which  could  be  obtained  for  the  sum  of  $175,000.  The 
committee  further  ascertained  that  the  sum  of  $100,000  would  be  subscribed 
toward  the  new  church. 

The  question,  therefore,  now  arises  as  to  the  expediency  and  the  pos- 
sibility of  making  the  move. 

The  committee  estimate  that  the  land  will  cost  $175,000 ;  to  build  a  church 
a  minimum  cost  of  $200,000 — total,  $375,000.  Against  this,  subscriptions, 
say,  $100,000 :  probable  amount  from  sale  of  pews  $100,000— total,  $200,000, 
leaving  a  deficiency  of  $175,000. 

The  committee  would  therefore  refer  these  facts  back  to  the  vestiy,  with- 
out attempting  themselves,  to  decide  this  question,  leaving  it  for  the  indi- 
vidual members  of  the  committee  to  discuss  the  question  at  a  full  meeting 
of  the  vesti'}\ 

David  Dows. 
Harvey  Spencer. 
Joiix  Noble  Stearns. 
J.  PiERPONT  Morgan. 

Whereupon  it  was  unanimously  resolved  "  that  it  would  be  in- 
expedient to  undertake  to  build  a  new  church  up-town  unless  the 
sum  of  $175,000  be  first  absolutely  secured,  and  that  the  matter  be 
recommitted  to  the  special  committee  to  report  at  the  first  meeting 
of  this  vestry  after  Easter  for  final  action  whether  this  amount  can 
be  secured." 

"Whatever  decision  might  be  arrived  at  as  to  whether  a  new  church 
should  be  erected  or  the  congregation  retain  its  present  site,  the 
policy  of  concentrating  the  financial  energies  of  the  parish  in  its 
work  at  the  church  was  evidently  to  be  pursued.  The  German 
work  and  the  Mission  of  the  Bread  of  Life  had  been  relinquished, 
and  the  Fourteenth  Street  chapel  which  had  sheltered  them  had 
been  sold  and  the  $27,500  received  therefor  had  been  absorbed  in 
the  funds  of  the  church.  And  now,  March  16,  1881,  it  was  deter- 
mined to  close  the  chapel  on  Nineteenth  Street  at  the  end  of  the 


282  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

present  year.  Meanwhile  the  building  was  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  Mr.  McLaren,  secretary  of  the  mission  •  trustees,  ' '  with  such 
assistance  as  he  may  secure  for  Sunday-school  services  under  the 
direction  of  the  rector."  The  Rev.  Mr.  Perkins,  in  charge  of  the 
Chapel  of  Free  Grace,  was  instructed  to  notify  the  congregation 
that  after  Sunday,  the  24th  of  April,  the  church  services  at  the 
chapel  would  be  discontinued,  but  he  was  "  permitted  to  hold  a 
service  with  Holy  Communion  at  9.30  a.m.  on  the  third  Sunday  of 
every  month  in  the  church  for  the  special  accommodation  of  the 
congregation  of  the  Chapel  of  Free  Grace." 

The  project  of  effecting  a  change  in  the  gallery  for  the  purpose 
of  placing  an  organ  near  the  chancel  was  referred  in  March,  1881, 
to  a  special  committee.  The  music  committee  meanwhile  engaged 
the  services  of  S.  N.  Penfield  as  organist  from  May  1st,  which  en- 
gagement was  renewed  in  the  following  year  at  a  salary  of  $1,200 
per  annum. 

At  the  vestry  meeting,  April  14,  1881,  it  was  ordered  "  that 
$3,000  be  paid  to  the  rector  for  extra  salary  during  the  past  year 
and  expenses  incurred  by  him."  The  rector  at  the  same  meeting 
presented  and  read  the  following  resignation: 

After  prayerful  consideration  I  have  decided  to  accept  the  call  extended 
to  me  from  Christ  Church,  Baltimore.  I  therefore  announce  to  you  my 
resignation  of  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's  Church  to  take  effect  on  the 
second  day  of  May  next,  and  request  your  prompt  acceptance  of  the  same. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  enter  into  any  detailed  aceoimt  of  the  reasons 
for  my  action.  It  is  not  from  anj'  dissatisfaction  with  my  personal  or 
oflficial  relations  to  this  church.  But  you  are  well  aware  of  the  peculiar 
difficulties  which  surround  churches  situated  like  St.  George's— its  locality 
on  the  East  Side,  the  change  in  the  character  of  the  population  in  this 
vicinity  in  the  last  ten  years,  the  constant  removal  of  families  from  us, 
the  diminished  resources  which  this  produces,  and  the  different  conditions 
imder  wliich  its  work  in  the  future  must  be  prosecuted — all  these  con- 
siderations convinced  me  long  ago  that  the  removal  of  St.  George's  to  some 
other  locality  was  an  impei-ative  necessity  if  the  church  was  to  maintain 
its  historic  position  and  minister  to  tlie  class  of  people  who  had  given  it 
position  and  influence  in  the  past,  and  also  if  the  present  edifice  was  to 
become  a  free  church  and  the  center  of  large  missionary  work  in  this 
vicinity.  It  was  in  the  hope  that  I  might  accomplish  these  objects  that 
I  accepted  your  call ;  but  as  this  hope  does  not  seem  likely  to  be  fulfilled, 
I  am  constrained  to  feel  that  some  other  ministry  than  mine  may  achieve 
the  desired  result,  while  I  may  accomplish  more  for  my  Master  in  some 
other  field  of  labor.  That  field  of  labor  has  now  most  unexpectedly  opened 
before  me  in  the  vacancy  in  Christ  Church,  Baltimore,  a  church  which  has 
now  honored  me  a  third  time  with  its  confidence  by  a  unanimous  call,  and 
the  marks  of  God's  providential  leading  are  so  clear  and  conspicuous  in  this 
last  call  that  I  feel  it  is  His  blessed  will  and  my  solemn  duty  to  accept. 


THE    WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND    INTERIM  283 

I  have,  therefore,  this  day  sent  my  otJScial  acceptance  to  the  vestry  of  Christ 
Church. 

In  now  severing  the  tie  which  has  bound  us  together  in  such  intimate  and 
holy  relationships,  I  must  thank  the  vestry  for  the  uniform  kindness  and 
courtesy  which  I  have  received  at  their  hands,  at  the  cordial  and  liberal 
spirit  with  which  they  have  sustained  all  my  efforts.  I  have  not  accom- 
plished all  that  I  hoped  and  what  I  might  have  reasonably  expected  under 
different  circumstances,  but  I  do  leave  St.  George's  in  a  better  condition 
than  when  I  became  its  rector;  it  is  now  united  and  harmonious;  the  work 
of  the  church  concentrated;  the  attendance  on  its  services  constantly  in- 
creasing; the  Sunday-school  well  organized  and  prosperous;  and  the  con- 
tributions to  charities  liberal. 

Commending  you  to  Christ's  gracious  keeping  and  guidance  and  praying 
for  you  all  the  fulness  of  His  grace  and  peace  I  remain, 

Very  faithfully  and  affectionately  your  brother  in  Christ, 

Walter  W.  Williams. 

The  rector  thereupon  called  the  senior  warden  to  the  chair  and 
withdrew  from  the  meeting. 

The  vestry  proceeded  to  the  consideration  of  the  rector's  letter 
and  after  deliberation  adopted  the  following  minute: 

The  Reverend  Walter  W.  Williams,  D.D.,  having  offered  his  resignation 
of  the  office  of  Rector  of  this  Church,  to  take  effect  on  the  seeond^day  of 
May  next;  and  this  Vestry  in  common  with  the  entire  congregation,  esteem- 
ing him  for  ability,  learning,  eloquence,  and  soundness  in  the  faith,  and  for 
gentleness  and  loveliness  of  character  joined  with  unfailing  zeal  in  his 
Master's  work,  but  recognizing  the  causes  he  assigns  for  aeceioting  the 
call  of  Christ  Church,  Baltimore,  as  sufficient  to  make  the  proposed 
change  reasonable  and  just,  deem  it  their  duty  to  assent  to  his  release; 
and  therefore  the  Vestry,  with  deep  regret,  do  hereby  accept  his  resig- 
nation. 

Messrs.  Tracy,  Morgan,  and  Spencer  were  designated  a  special 
committee  to  prepare  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Williams  for  signature 
by  the  wardens  and  vestrymen. 

To  make  immediate  provision  for  maintaining  the  services,  it  was 
resolved  "  that  the  Eev.  Newton  Perkins,  assistant  to  the  rector,  be 
continued  in  his  present  position  until  further  notice,  he  being 
guaranteed  one  year's  salary  of  eighteen  hundred  dollars  ($1,800), 
payable  quarterly,  and  that  he  be  invited  to  occupy  the  rectory 
after  Dr.  Williams  vacates  the  same  until  further  notice  from  the 
vestry. ' ' 

At  the  next  meeting,  April  21,  1881,  the  special  committee  re- 
ported that  in  accordance  with  the  resolution  of  the  last  meeting  a 
letter  had  been  signed  by  the  wardens  and  vestrymen  and  delivered 
to  Rev.  Dr.  Williams,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy : 


284  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Rev.  Walter  W.  Williams,  D.D. 
Reverend  and  Dear  Sir  : 

As  the  Chureliwardens  and  Vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Chm-ch  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  we  have  duly  considered  the  letter  of  resignation  sub- 
mitted by  you  and  found  it  our  painful  duty  to  acquiesce  in  your  request. 

We  cannot  contemplate  the  approaching  separation  without  grateful 
recollection -of  your  ministry  for  the  last  five  years,  during  which  this 
Church  has  not  been  wholly  free  from  adversity  and  you  have  borne  heavy 
burdens  for  it.  Yet  your  courage  has  never  failed,  your  labors  have  been 
constant,  hopeful,  and  efficient  and  you  now  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  it 
preserved  and  in  a  prosperous  state  with  bright  promise  for  time  to  come. 
While  3'our  lot  lias  not  been  always  pleasant,  your  true  heart  and  lively 
faith  and  your  diligent  care  and  services  have  yielded  precious  fruits.  By 
your  teaching  and  example  our  people  have  been  built  up,  strengthened, 
and  blessed  in  all  things  belonging  to  the  hope,  comfort,  and  usefulness 
of  the  higher  life.  They  and  we  thank  the  gTacious  Lord  for  His  favor  thus 
manifested  in  the  past  and  bid  you  God  speed  in  the  new  work  to  which 
j-ou  are  called.  St.  George's  Chuix-h  will  hold  you  in  happy  memory  and 
rejoice  in  all  your  success. 

Faithfully  and  Truly  Yours, 

Charles  Tracy,  Sr.  Warden. 

David  Dows,  Jr.  Warden. 

J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Vestrj-man. 

Harvey  Spencer,  Vestryman. 

Henry  P.  Marshall,  Vestryman. 

Jno.  Noble  Stearns,  Vestryman. 

John  D.  Wood,  Vestryman. 

J.  B.  Reynolds,  M.D.,  Vestryman. 

Theodore  H.  Mead,  Vestryman. 
New  York,  April  15,  1881. 

At  this  meeting  it  was  ordered  that  while  the  rectorship  is  vacant 
the  senior  warden  have  authority  to  invite  clergymen  from  time  to 
time  to  fill  the  pulpit,  and  the  assistant  minister,  the  Rev.  Newton 
Perkins,  was  directed  to  continue  the  services  as  at  present  held  at 
St.  George's — viz.,  the  first  service  at  11  a.m.,  Evening  Prayer  with- 
out sermon  at  4.30  p.m.  until  the  1st  of  June,  and  the  People's  Service 
at  7.45  until  the  church  is  closed  for  the  summer,  and  to  attend 
all  parochial  calls  in  cases  of  sickness,  marriages,  baptisms,  and 
funerals. ' ' 

It  was  further  ordered  that  the  use  of  the  rector's  study  be 
granted  to  the  Eev.  Mr.  Perkins,  it  having  been  learned  that  he 
does  not  wish  to  reside  in  the  rectory.  Provision  was  also  made 
for  assigning  pews  in  St.  George's  for  the  use  of  those  members  of 
the  Chapel  of  Free  Grace  who  shall  signify  their  intention  to  become 
members  of  St.  George's. 

A  committee  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  rector  was  appointed 


THE     WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND    INTERIM  285 

November  22,  1881,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Tracy,  Stearns,  Wood, 
and  Spencer,  which  on  the  28th  of  February,  1882,  reported  the 
name  of  the  Rev.  J.  Houston  Eccleston,  D.D.,  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  Newark,  New  Jersey,  who  was  thereupon  elected  rector  at  a 
salary  of  $5,000  and  the  use  of  the  rectory ;  and  the  same  committee 
was  instructed  to  communicate  the  call  to  Dr.  Eccleston  and  urge  his 
acceptance.  Interviews  and  correspondence  followed,  with  the  re- 
sult that  Dr.  Eccleston  declined  the  call. 

The  committee  on  property  in  April,  1882,  reported  a  proposed 
sale  of  the  East  Nineteenth  Street  property  for  $20,000,  one-half  of 
the  purchase  money  to  remain  on  bond  and  mortgage  at  five  per 
cent.  The  consent  of  the  Supreme  Court  having  been  secured,  the 
property  was  transferred  through  Mr.  G.  W.  Wenner  to  a  German 
Lutheran  congregation.  The  duty  of  overseeing  the  removal  of  the 
Sunday-school  of  the  Nineteenth  Street  chapel  to  the  chapel  on 
Sixteenth  Street  was  intrusted  to  Mr.  Stearns,  who  also  was  au- 
thorized to  take  charge  of  the  mission  funds. 

The  Rev.  Newton  Perkins  was  continued  by  the  vestry  as  minister 
in  charge  of  St.  George's  at  a  salary  of  $150  per  month,  the  engage- 
ment to  be  terminated  by  the  vestry  at  any  time  by  giving  Mr. 
Perkins  two  months'  salary. 

The  Church  of  the  Incarnation  having  been  so  damaged  by  fire 
as  to  be  unfit  for  occupancy,  the  vestry  of  St.  George's  tendered 
the  use  of  its  church  to  the  homeless  congregation.  The  final  letter 
in  the  correspondence  which  ensued  here  follows : 

Rectory  of  the  Ixcarnatiox,  New  York,  209  Madison  Avenue. 
Mr.  Charles  Tracy. 
Dear  Sir: 

As  in  my  note  to  you  I  left  some  doubt  as  to  the  ultimate  decision  of 
the  vestry  of  the  Church  of  the  Incarnation  on  the  offer  of  hospitality  of 
St.  George's  Church,  I  would  now  state  that  on  full  consideration  of  the 
subject  it  has  seemed  best  to  establish  our  seiTices  until  the  restoration  of 
our  church  in  those  localities  most  convenient  to  the  homes  of  the  congrega- 
tion. Masonic  Hall  has  therefore  been  secured  for  morning  services  on 
Sunday  and  the  offer  of  Christ  Church  accepted  for  Sunday  afternoons. 

In  thus  declining  the  kind  offer  of  St.  George's,  I  would  express  on  behalf 
of  the  vestiy  and  of  all  the  members  of  the  church,  to  whom  it  has  been 
made,  the  fullest  appreciation  of  the  warm  feeling  and  sympathy  which  it 
conveyed.  And  for  myself  I  can  say  that  it  would  have  given  me  great 
pleasure  to  have  officiated  in  the  church  and  ministered  to  its  eongi'egation 
bad  such  a  course  seemed  for  the  best  interests  of  the  Church  of  the  In- 
carnation. 

With  warmest  regards  I  am,  Yours  very  sincerely, 

Arthur  Brooks. 

May  1st,  1882. 


286  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  following  financial  statement  of  St.  George's  corporation  is 
of  special  interest  as  being  the  last  presented  by  the  treasurer,  May 
11,  1882,  before  the  inauguration  of  the  new  plans  and  method* 
which  ushered  in  the  coming  era  of  a  new  St.  George's: 

SYNOPSIS  OF  PROPERTY  OF  ST.  GEORGE's  CHURCH  1882-3 

The  Church  Editice,  Rectory  and  Chapel  in  Sixteenth  Street,  together 
with  Organs  and  Furniture  in  each,  not  estimated. 

House  and  lot,  146   Chambers   St $35,000 

House  and  lot,  73  Warren  St 25,000 

House  and  lot,  203  East  Sixteenth  St 7,500 

$67,50a 

United  States  Bond  (Currency  6%) 5,000 

Ground  Rents,   estimated 500 

Nineteenth  St.  property  agreed  to  be  sold  at 20,000 

$93,000 
Cash,  say 1,000 

$94,000 
Liabibties  to  U.  S.  Trust  Co 15,000 

$79,000 

Estimates  for  the  Coming  Year. 

Estimate  of  Income: 

Rent  146  Chambers  St $2,900 

Rent  73  Warren  St 2,000 

Rent  203  E,  Sixteenth  St 1,000 

Interest  on  U.  S.  Bond   (Currency  6%) 300 

Interest  on  balance  of  sale  of  Nineteenth  Street  chapel 

after  paying  $15,000 250 

6,450 

Pew  Rents 4,500 

Opening  Church 50 

$11,000 
From  Offertory   1,000 

$12,000 

Taxation  on  the  Real  Estate  about $1,050 

Repairs,  say   400 

Shows  a  net  income  from  investments  $5,000,  or  five  per 
cent,  on  a  capital  of  $100,000. 


THE    WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND    INTERIM  287 

Estimate  of  Expenses. 

Rector  Emeritus   $5,000 

Assistant  Minister    1,800 

Music   3,100 

Sexton  and  Assistant  1,000 

Taxes   1,600 

Repairs    500 

Diocesan  and  Episcopal  Funds   100 

Anderson    Fund    270 

Milnor  Professorship  Fund   500 

Fuel  and  Gas 600 

Sundries    530 

$i5,ooa 

Showing   a   probable   deficiency   of $3,000 

Mr.  Stearns,  from  the  committee  to  nominate  a  rector,  reported, 
May  23,  1882,  the  name  of  Eev.  W.  S.  Rainsford,  of  Toronto,  Can- 
ada, who  was  thereupon  elected  rector  at  a  salary  of  $5,000  per 
annum,  with  the  free  occupancy  of  the  rectory,  and  the  committee 
was  instructed  to  communicate  the  call  to  Mr.  Rainsford  and  urge 
his  acceptance  thereof.  Wlien  the  vestry  next  met,  August  10,  1882, 
Mr.  Stearns  reported  having  visited  Toronto,  but  Mr.  Rainsford 
being  absent  on  his  vacation  he  saw  only  Mrs.  Rainsford  and  con- 
cluded from  her  conversation  that  there  was  little  probability  of 
Mr.  Rainsford 's  acceptance  of  the  call  to  St.  George's.  Mr.  Morgan 
was  thereupon  added  to  the  committee  to  communicate  with  Mr. 
Rainsford. 

The  engagement  of  the  vestry  with  the  Rev.  Newton  Perkins 
was  ordered  terminated  August  15th,  and  the  treasurer  was  in- 
structed to  pay  his  salary  to  that  date,  together  with  $300  for  two 
months  additional. 

The  Rev.  Hugh  Maguire  was  placed  in  temporary  charge  of  the 
parish  from  August  15th  at  a  salary  of  $100  per  month. 

The  appointment  of  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school  was 
intrusted  to  the  senior  warden  and  ]\Ir.  Stearns  with  full  power 
in  this  regard  and  as  to  all  other  matters  appertaining  to  the 
school. 

On  the  18th  of  August  another  member  of  the  vestry,  Dr.  James 
B.  Reynolds,  departed  this  life.  In  recognition  of  this  sad  event 
the  vestry  met  and  adopted  the  following  resolution,  directing  that 
a  copy  be  sent  to  Mrs.  Reynolds  and  that  it  be  published  in  the 
church  papers: 


288  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Resolved,  That  we  record  his  death  with  sorrow.  His  life-long  attachment 
to  this  Church,  from  the  time  when  he  was  taught  m  the  Sunday-school, 
through  the  period  of  his  services  as  a  teacher,  and  afterwards  as  a  member 
of  the  vestiy,  and  his  high  professional  position,  and  liis  exemplary  Chris- 
tian character,  are  worthy  of  honorable  memory,  and  we  cannot  suppress 
our  regret  that  his  career  among  us  has  suddenly  ended  in  the  middle  and 
vigor  of  his  life. 

The  vestry  were  not  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  Mr.  Rainsford's 
failure  to  accept  the  call  to  St.  George's,  and  on  October  27th,  after 
discussing  the  situation,  appointed  Messrs.  Morgan  and  Stearns  to 
visit  Toronto  and  took  a  recess  until  they  should  return.  Upon 
being  apprised,  however,  of  their  intent,  Mr.  Rainsford,  the  condi- 
tions surrounding  whom  in  Toronto  had  become  considerably 
changed,  telegraphed  that  he  would  meet  them  in  New  York;  and 
the  story  of  what  took  place  is  best  told  in  his  own  words  in  A 
Preacher's  Story  of  His  Wo7'k: 

On  the  train  coming  down  I  made  up  my  mind  that  a  few  conditions  were 
absolutely  essential  to  success  in  the  work  at  St.  George's,  and  I  determined 
to  propose  those  conditions  to  the  vestry.  I  had  very  little  hope  that  they 
would  agree  to  them.  However,  I  also  made  up  my  mind  that  if  they 
would  not  agree  I  would  not  accept  the  rectorship. 

I  arrived  in  New  York  and  was  most  kindly  received.  I  met  the  vestry 
in  Mr.  Morgan's  study,  and  they  asked  me  to  become  rector  of  St.  George's 
Church.  I  said :  '  I  think  the  church  has  gone  too  far  to  be  pulled  up ;  I 
do  not  think  I  have  the  strength  or  the  capacity  to  pull  it  up;  but,'  I  said, 
'  I  will  undertake  the  work  on  three  conditions.' 

'  Name  your  conditions,'  said  Mr.  Morgan ;  and  I  did. 

'  First,  you  must  make  the  church  absolutely  free — buy  out  all  those  who 
will  not  surrender  their  pews;  next,  abolish  all  •  committees  in  the  church 
except  the  vestry;  and,  third,  I  must  have  $10,000  for  tlu'ee  years,  apart 
from  my  salary,  to  spend  as  I  see  fit;  my  salary  I  leave  to  you.' 

*  Done,'  said  Mr.  Morgan. 

That  which  I  did  not  expect  had  come  to  me.  But  it  was  none  of  my 
seeking. 

I  bowed  my  head  and  thanked  God. 

Upon  his  return  to  Toronto  he  addressed  to  Mr.  Stearns,  of  the 
committee,  the  following  letter: 

Toronto,  Nov.  23,  '82. 
Deae  Mr.  Stearxs: 

After  a  more  anxious  and  perplexing  time  than  I  can  describe  to  you, 
I  have  decided  to  accept  the  call  to  St.  George's— and  in  God's  strength, 
I  trust,  attempt  the  work  there — provided  that  on  full  consideration  the 
vestry  feel  themselves  in  a  position  to  guarantee  the  arrangements  I  sug- 
gested when  in  New  York. 

First. — That  from  end  to  end  the  church  be  made  and  declared  free — peo- 


THE    WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND    INTERIM  289 

pie  having  likings  for  special  pews  could  be  shown  to  them  by  gentlemen 
who  understood  the  office. 

Second. — That  I  should  have  the  support  and  countenance  of  the  vestry 
in  making  any  changes  in  the  seiTices  or  introducing  other  services;  entire 
control  of  the  music  of  the  church,  a])iDointment  of  organist,  etc;  and  that 
necessary  alterations  be  made  to  allow  of  an  organ  and  choir  in  or  near  the 
chancel. 

Third. — That  a  guarantee  of  ten  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  three  years 
should  be  given  me,  wherewith  to  procure  sufficient  and  efficient  clerical 
assistants. 

I  should  also  like  to  have  it  understood  that  no  further  encroachment 
be  made  on  the  church's  endowment  for  this  same  period  of  three  years. 

As  a  personal  matter  I  should  require  a  few  changes  in  the  rectory,  not 
expensive  ones,  but  still  such  as  I  think  are  necessary  to  enable  me  to  keep 
to  a  certain  degree  open  house.  This,  as  I  assured  the  vestry,  I  consider 
no  unimportant  work,  and  further  to  do  so  I  should  require  a  salary  of 
six  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

I  hope  and  think  that  after  what  has  passed  between  us  the  vestry 
will  not  mistake  my  motive  in  thus  plainly  stating  matters  which  I  deem 
essential  to  any  success  at  St.  George's.  I  am  quite  aware  that  they  may 
seem  excessive  demands.  If  the  vestry  think  so — or  if  after  careful  con- 
sideration they  find  they  are  not  in  a  position  to  grant  them,  I  am  sure  they 
will  frankly  say  so — and  I  shall  always  think  with  gratitude  of  the  courtesy 
with  which  they  have  treated  me. 

If  after  weighing  the  whole  matter  they  still  think  well  to  grant  them,  I 
can  only  assure  you  nothing  that  I  can  do  shall  be  left  undone  to  promote 
and  carry  on  the  grand  work  that  under  the  blessing  of  God  the  church 
has  accomplished  in  the  past. 

Let  me  further  beg  the  vestry  not  to  expect  too  immediate  a  success. 
There  must  remain  for  any  one  undertaking  it  a  great  deal  of  lost  ground 
to  recover,  an  immensity  of  fresh  gToimd  to  explore. 

I  could  not  hold  out  any  hope  for  an  immediate  reduction  in  the  musical 
expenses,  as  the  choir  would  need  considerable  outlay  of  time  and  money. 

Competent  assistance  is  an  absolute  necessity  in  my  scheme  of  parish 
work,  nor  would  my  health  permit  of  my  undertaking  the  church  without  it. 

I  think  it  very  probable  that  a  visit  to  the  old  country  would  be  necessary 
to  procure  the  man  or  men  I  need — I  should  ijroiDose  to  start  early  in 
January,  returning  as  soon  as  possible,  settle  my  aft'airs  in  Toronto,  and  be 
in  New  York  in  March.  I  do  not  see  that  it  would  be  possible  to  begin 
sooner — sorry  as  I  should  be  for  the  delay. 

I  should  of  course  visit  New  York  and  see  the  vestry  again  if  necessaiy 
before  sailing.  I  would  have  to  request  the  vestry  to  pay  my  expenses  and 
grant  me  a  salai^v  from  January  1st. 

I  have  now,  my  dear  Mr.  Stearns,  fully  and  freely  as  the  vestry  desired 
me  stated  ray  views.  I  can  only  pray  God  our  Father,  whose  is  the  work, 
to  guide  you  all  to  a  right  decision. 

Looking  for  an  early  answer, 

I  remain  very  faithfully  y'rs, 

W.  S.  Rainsford. 

The  vestry  having   considered   the   foregoing  letter,   it   was  re- 
solved ''  that  the  vestry  heartily  concurs  in  the  views  of  Mr.  Rains- 
19 


290  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

ford  and  pledges  to  him  its  active  co-operation  and  support  in 
carrying  them  out." 

This  action  being  communicated  by  telegram  to  Mr.  Rainsford, 
he  wrote  to  Mr.  Stearns:  "  I  want  more  than  the  vestry's  co- 
operation and  support  in  making  and  declaring  the  church  free. 
To  make  the  church  free  is  not  my  work,  but  theirs.  .  .  .  The  vestry 
must  pardon  me  if  I  seem  to  them  over-particular  about  details. 
One  cannot  too  carefully  avoid  any  possible  misunderstandings." 

To  this  communication  the  warden,  Mr.  Charles  Tracy,  replied: 

Mr.  Stearns  has  shown  me  yours  of  30th  ult.,  received  to-day;  and  I 
write  now  to  assure  you  that  the  clmreh  will  be  made  free  soon  as  prac- 
ticable, but  it  cannot  be  so  changed  instantly.  There  are  two  classes  of 
pew-holders,  temporary  and  permanent.  The  former  class  have  rights  for 
the  half  year,  from  Nov.  1,  1882,  to  May  1,  1883;  wliich  rights  are  estab- 
lished by  consent  and  entry,  and  the  rent  for  that  half-year  was  due  Nov, 
1st  and  has  been  or  will  be  paid.  No  new  right  of  that  sort,  reaching 
beyond  next  May  1st  will  be  granted.  The  other  class  (about  forty  in  num- 
ber) have  pei'manent  leases  upon  rents  payable  in  advance  Nov,  and 
May  1st.  At  least  half  of  these  will  surrender  their  leases  on  request,  but 
the  others  must  be  negotiated  with.  The  vestry  has  no  power  to  annul 
the  leases,  but  if  any  holder  neglects  paying  rent  for  two  years  he  may  be 
evicted;  and  if  one  does  pay  his  rent  he  can  only  keep  out  others  by  using 
the  pew  himself.  I  should  add  that  one  pew  is  on  permanent  lease  free 
of  rent  and  two  on  permanent  leases  free  of  rent  for  the  life  of  the  present 
owner,  but  no  trouble  will  come  from  these. 

While  the  Church  cannot  break  its  covenants  in  permanent  leases,  it  still 
will  be  able  to  work  out  the  free-church  movement  so  that  it  may  proclaim 
all  the  seats  free  next  May  1st.  This  the  vestry  undertakes  to  do,  taking 
all  the  little  risks  of  having  to  deal  with  any  reluctant  tenant,  if  one  is 
found.  In  the  meantime  we  hope  and  expect  from  the  commencement  of 
your  ministry  in  the  church  to  get  a  relinquishment  of  all  the  pending 
temporary  leases. 

The  enclosed  certified  copy  of  resolutions,  with  the  letter  they  relate  to, 
a  copy  of  which  is  enclosed,  and  with  this  present  letter,  will,  I  hope,  satisfy 
you  that  the  vestry  undertake  fully  to  carry  out  the  views  expressed  in 
your  letter. 

Faithfully  yours, 

Charles  Tract,  Churchwarden. 

In  Mr.  Rainsford 's  reply  to  Mr.  Tracy,  December  4,  1882,  he 
wrote :  ' '  Your  statement  of  the  affairs  of  the  church  is  to  me  satis- 
factory. I  did  not  suppose  the  church  could  be  at  once  declared 
free;  all  I  wanted  a  clear  understanding  about  was  that  the  work 
of  freeing  it  should  not  rest  on  me,  but  the  vestry, 

I  inclose  a  short  formal  answer  to  the  copy  of  your  vestry's 
resolutions  " : 


THE    WILLIAMS    RECTORSHIP    AND    INTERIM  291 

Charles  Tracy,  Esq.,  Church  Warden  St.  George's,  New  York. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  a  copy  of  a  resolution  passed  by 
St.  George's  Vestry  Nov.  27,  1882,  and  to  assure  both  youi-self  and  the 
vestry  that  I  am  deei:>ly  grateful  for  the  cordial  manner  with  which  they 
have  received  my  letter  of  Nov.  23d.  I  can  only  again  assure  you,  dear 
sir,  that  so  far  as  in  me  lies  I  will  give  myself  gladly  to  the  work  of  the 
Church  that  by  you  has  extended  to  me  so  generous  a  confidenee,  a  con- 
fidence which  I  tiiist  neither  you  nor  the  vestiy  will  have  reason  to  regret. 

Believe  me  to  remain, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

W.  S.  Rainsford. 

Toronto,  Dec.  4,  1882. 

The  entire  correspondence  was  ordered  to  be  spread  upon  the 
records  at  the  meeting  of  December  27th,  and  to  give  formal  effect 
to  all  that  had  been  agreed  upon  the  following  resolutions  were 
adopted : 

1.  Resolved,  That  the  salary  of  the  rector-elect  be  six  thousand  dollars 
a  year  from  the  commencement  of  his  rectorate,  January  1,  1883. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  entire  control  of  the  music  of  the  church  and  the 
appointment  of  organist  and  choir  be  given  to  the  rector. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  committee  on  Property  and  Repairs  be  authorized 
to  put  the  rectory  and  furniture  in  perfect  order  for  the  use  of  the  rector 
and  his  family;  and  that  all  bills  for  the  same  certified  by  said  committee  be 
paid  by  the  treasurer. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  pew  rents  due  November  1,  1882,  for  six  months 
expiring  May  1,  1883,  be  collected  and  that  no  letting  of  pews  be  made  for 
any  term  extending  beyond  May  1,  1883. 

5.  Resolved,  That  whenever  by  reason  of  absence  of  the  rector  there  can- 
not be  a  lawful  meeting  of  the  vesti-v"  there  shall  be  an  Executive  Committee 
with  power  to  manage  and  conduct  all  the  ordinary  business  of  this  cor- 
poration. Said  committee  shall  be  composed  of  members  of  the  vestry, 
any  five  of  whom  shall  constitute  a  quorum.  Meetings  of  the  committee 
may  be  called  by  any  two  members  on  one  day's  notice.  All  the  proceedings 
of  the  committee  shall  be  reported  in  writing  at  the  next  following  vestry 
meeting. 

6.  Resolved,  That  the  churchwardens  be  directed  to  give  to  the  Bishop 
or  Ecclesiastical  Authority  of  this  Diocese  due  canonical  notice  of  the 
election  of  Rev.  "William  S.  Rainsford  as  Rector  of  this  Church. 


CHAPTER   XI 
THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD 

(1883-1893) 

The  new  rector  entered  upon  his  duties  in  January,  1883.  A 
stouter  heart  than  his  might  well  have  quailed  before  the  situa- 
tion as  he  found  it.  The  worshipers  had  dwindled  to  a  scant  rem- 
nant of  the  once  grand  congregation  which  had  thronged  the  large 
and  stately  edifice.  The  finances  were  at  the  lowest  ebb.  The 
Sunday-school  was  but  a  shadow  of  its  former  self.  The  old  par- 
ishioners had  mostly  moved  away  and  with  them  the  old  prosper- 
ous times  had  vanished.  The  vestry  realized  that  they  were  face 
to  face  with  new  conditions  which  demanded  radically  different 
methods  of  Church  administration.  In  Mr.  Rainsford  they  believed 
that  they  had  found  the  man  to  meet  the  situation;  and  that  their 
judgment  in  the  matter  was  accurate  and  sound  is  witnessed  by 
the  wonderful  success  which  has  attended  the  development  of  his 
wise  plans  for  making  St.  George's  Church  a  mighty  power  for 
spiritual  good  and  social  betterment. 

At  his  first  meeting  with  the  vestry,  January  19,  1883,  the  war- 
dens having  reported  that  the  canonical  certificate  of  his  election 
had  been  delivered  to  the  bishop,  the  rector  thus  expressed  himself : 

The  rector  at  this  his  first  meeting  with  St.  George's  vestry  desires  to 
express  his  deep  sense  of  the  kindness  with  which  personally  he  has  been 
received  by  its  members,  and  tlie  confidence  they  have  seen  fit  to  place  in  one 
so  young  and  to  them  so  little  known.  He  asks  their  prayers  on  his  behalf, 
and  would  hope  so  far  as  he  can  to  return  their  kindness  and  to  deser\-e 
the  trust. 

Without  delay  the  vestry  now  addressed  itself  to  the  progressive 
work  of  carrying  out  the  plans  which  the  new  leadership  involved. 
Laying  foundations  for  the  new  regime  was  thus  enthusiastically 
begun. 

The  first  and  foremost  change  to  be  effected  was  to  make  all  pews 
free.     The  following  action  therefore  was  unanimously  taken: 


ff^.  fY\^^u.^yfnel!:j 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  293 

Whereas  this  vestrj',  after  mature  deliberation,  has  decided  that  the  best 
interests  of  the  Church  would  be  promoted  by  the  seats  of  the  church  being 
free  to  all  attending  the  services ;  therefore 

Resolved,  that  this  church  be  declared  free. 

Fesolved,  that  the  committee  on  pews  be  directed  to  make  no  more  leases 
of  pews  belonging  to  the  corporation. 

Besolved,  that  these  resolutions,  attested  by  the  rector  and  clerk,  be 
posted  at  the  doors  of  the  church,  and  that  the  same  be  then  published  in 
the  Church  papers. 

Resolved,  that  the  pew  committee  be  instructed  to  take  such  measures 
as  they  may  deem  expedient  to  obtain  from  present  holders  of  pews  a 
surrender  of  their  leases  at  the  earliest  practicable  day. 

To  introduce  a  choir  and  organ  near  the  chancel,  which  was  the 
next  thing  to  be  done,  required  material  alterations  both  at  the 
east  and  west  ends  of  the  church.  The  rector  and  the  property- 
committee  were  authorized  to  obtain  a  plan  and  drawings  from 
the  architect,  and  at  the  meeting  on  March  12th  were  em- 
powered to  carry  into  execution  the  adopted  plan  prepared  by 
Mr.  Eidlitz. 

To  give  increased  efficiency  to  the  work  of  the  clergy  whom  he 
was  to  call  to  his  assistance,  the  rector  wished  to  lodge  them  in 
one  building  near  the  rectory.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan  the  vestry 
leased  a  house  in  the  rear  of  the  rectory.  No.  208  East  Seventeenth 
Street,  for  the  term  of  three  years  from  May  1st  at  an  annual  rental 
of  $1,500,  the  premises  to  be  used  as  a  clergy  house  and  for  other 
purposes  of  the  parish.  Articles  for  furnishing  the  house  were 
contributed  by  members  of  the  congregation  and  a  fund  of  $950 
was  raised  for  the  same  purpose.  A  committee  of  ladies,  one  acting 
as  treasurer,  engaged  a  housekeeper  and  exercised  such  supervisory 
relation  to  the  enterprise  as  seemed  advisable.  Each  of  the  clergy 
was  to  be  provided  with  ample  and  free  accommodations,  but  was 
to  pay  his  board.  The  space  not  thus  required  was  to  be  used  as 
might  be  needed  for  various  meetings  and  classes  both  on  Sundays 
and  week-days. 

The  first  of  the  assistant  ministers  was  Ralph  L.  Brydges,  who 
came  in  the  early  spring  of  1883.  His  presence  was  peculiarly 
welcome  and  helpful,  as  he  had  been  a  fellow -worker  with  the  rector 
previously  in  Canada. 

The  immediate  adoption  of  the  Envelope  System,  in  lieu  of  the 
superseded  pew-rent  method,  was  now  resolved  upon  as  one  of  the 
means  of  defraying  the  current  expenses  of  the  Church.  The  mat- 
ter was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  rector  and  senior  warden,  and 
at  the  May  meeting  Mr.  Tracy  reported  that  the  pledges  already 


204  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

made,  to  be  redeemed  at  the  Oifertory  through  the  envelopes,  aver- 
aged $104  weekly. 

Thus  provision  was  made  for  the  three  things  deemed  most  es- 
sential by  the  rector,  a  free  church  with  the  envelope  system  of 
voluntary  contributions,  improved  music  made  possible  by  a  choir 
and  organ  at  the  chancel,  and  a  clergy  house  for  the  rector 's  helpers. 

The  repairs  on  the  rectory  which  had  been  ordered  in  anticipa- 
tion of  Mr.  Eainsford's  coming  were  reported  to  the  vestry  to  have 
been  completed  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,000. 

During  the  summer  of  1883,  while  alterations  and  repairs  were 
being  made  in  the  church,  the  services  were  conducted  in  the  chapel, 
the  Sunday-school  meeting  at  9.30  a.m. 

The  committee  on  pews  encountered  much  difficulty  in  securing 
surrenders  to  the  Church,  especially  from  estates  of  deceased  pew- 
holders  and  from  owners  who  through  old  associations  were  loath 
to  give  them  up.  But  their  persistent  efforts  resulted  in  their  being 
able  to  report  in  April,  1884,  that  all  but  thirty-four  had  been 
secured,  and  of  these,  with  three  exceptions,  the  free  use  was  con- 
ceded to  the  vestry.  There  were  parishioners  who  wished  to  have, 
as  in  some  churches  miscalled  free,  sittings  or  pews  assigned  to 
them;  but  the  vestry  unanimously  decided  tliat  this  was  inadmis- 
sible as  at  variance  with  the  principle  of  a  free  church. 

A  design  for  a  new  pulpit  was  presented  by  the  rector  which 
was  approved  and  ordered  to  be  executed,  and  the  old  pulpit  later 
was  placed  in  the  chapel  in  Stanton  Street. 

The  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school,  Mr.  W.  H.  Philips,  had 
bravely  struggled,  with  his  faithful  helpers,  during  the  interregnum, 
to  maintain  the  school's  efficiency.  There  were  about  300  members. 
In  anticipation  of  a  pressing  need  of  increased  accommodation, 
nine  persons  of  the  congregation  contributed  $6,000  to  purchase  the 
adjoining  house,  205  East  Sixteenth  Street.  It  was  a  leasehold 
property  on  which  the  yearly  ground  rent  was  $225.  The  generous 
donors  were  A.  Corning  Clark,  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  David  Dows, 
Charles  Tracy,  J.  N.  Stearns,  W.  H.  Schieffelin,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  H. 
Tailer,  and  Mrs.  Edwards.  A  door  was  then  cut  through  the  wall 
between  the  chapel  and  the  acquired  property  and  several  adult 
classes  were  accommodated  there.  One  class  of  fifty  boys  met  in  the 
basement  of  the  rectory  and  a  men's  class  met  in  the  clergy  house. 
The  rooms  were  utilized  on  week-days  for  various  parochial  activi- 
ties. The  house  adjoining  on  the  west,  which  the  Church  also 
owned  upon  leased  ground,  for  which  it  had  no  present  use,  was 
rented  for  $1,200. 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  295 

The  Rev.  E.  F.  Miles,  M.D.,  who  was  the  second  acquisition  to 
the  staff,  became  the  superintendent  in  the  early  summer  of  1883, 
and  the  school  grew  apace  with  corresponding  difficulty  in  securing 
teachers  w^ell  equipped.    In  the  year  book  of  1884,  the  rector  wrote : 

St.  George's  chief  work  as  I  conceive  it  should  be  our  work  among  the 
children.  0  let  the  best  of  our  people  take  up  this  work!  Don't  leave  it 
to  the  young  alone.  We  want  men  of  business  to  hold  the  lads  who  are 
fast  becoming  men.  We  want  men  and  women  well  instructed  in  God's 
Word,  with  some  experience  of  life,  too,  who  will  deny  themselves  in  order 
to  help  the  young  children.  We  want  young  men  and  young  women  for 
the  young  children.  We  want  parents  to  take  more  interest  in  the  Sunday- 
school.     Come  sometimes  on  Sunday  morning. 

The  Sunday-school  had  trebled  in  size  since  January,  1883,  num- 
bering at  Easter,  1884,  19  officers,  55  teachers,  and  1,061  scholars. 
In  this  same  year  book  the  rector  gave  his  first  formal  intimation 
of  his  long-cherished  feeling  of  the  pressing  need  of  a  commodious, 
well-designed,  attractive  parish  building  to  house  the  Sunday-school 
and  the  multiplying  parish  organizations.  He  little  suspected  how 
soon  and  amply  that  need  would  be  supplied. 

The  alterations  in  the  church  and  the  installation  of  the  new 
organ  by  the  chancel  were  rapidly  proceeded  with,  the  cost  of 
the  improvement  amounting  to  $12,598.64.  At  Easter,  1884, 
J.  A.  Albertis,  choir-master,  and  Julius  G.  Bierck,  organist,  re- 
ported a  membership  of  63  in  the  new  choir,  classified  as  33  sopranos 
(15  boys  and  18  women),  altos  10  (5  boys  and  5  women),  9  tenors, 
and  11  basses.    The  rector  writes  in  the  year  book: 

All  attending  St.  George's  will  recognize  the  change  in  the  character  of 
our  music.  I  was  very  sure  that  the  congregational  music  I  longed  for, 
and  which  is  necessaiy  to  the  hearty  worship  of  God,  could  never  be  had 
while  our  choir  Avas  in  an  organ  loft,  away  from  the  people,  and  where 
it  was  impossible  for  them  to  hear.  I  therefore  received  a  promise  from 
the  vestry  before  coming  to  New  York,  that  such  changes  should  be  made 
in  and  near  the  chancel  as  would  admit  of  a  choir  and  a  smaller  organ 
being  placed  there.  Many  were  very  doubtful  of  the  success  of  this  plan; 
it  has,  however,  succeeded  beyond  my  expectations. 

We  need  constantly  new  material  for  our  choir.  Some  may  not  have 
much  money  to  give  or  very  much  time  to  spare;  cannot  they  lend  their 
voices  to  the  Lord?  This  is  no  unimportant  sei'^'ice.  The  choir  has  been 
a  gi'eat  help  to  me.  To  a  great  extent  it  is  volunteer.  Some  who  receive 
small  remuneration  could  elsewhere  find  much  better  positions.  Their 
patience  and  punctuality  during  the  drudgery  of  early  days  of  training  is 
worthy  of  all  praise. 

Mr.  Bierck,  who  officiated  for  four  years  as  the  organist  at  St. 
George's,  and  who  subsequently  took  Orders  and  served  in  later 


296  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

life  as  organist  and  choir-master  in  the  Church  of  the  Saviour  in 
Philadelphia,  wrote  of  his  earlier  experience  with  Mr.  Eainsford: 

He  is  pre-eminently  an  enthusiastic  believer  in  congregational  singing, 
and  always  insisted  that  the  people  should  have  a  part  in  the  service 
canticles  as  well  as  the  hymns ;  consequently  the  congregational  singing  in 
St.  George's  Church  was  noted  for  its  volume  and  heartiness.  While  he 
is  not  a  theoretical  musician,  and  the  writer  oftentimes  differed  with  him 
both  as  to  selections  and  the  interpretation  thereof,  his  enthusiasm  and 
indefatigable  methods  of  work  were  contagious,  and  in  consequence  there 
was  an  esprit  du  corps  in  the  choir  productive  of  the  most  helpful  worship- 
ful music. 

Regarding  the  services  of  the  Church,  the  rector  wrote  in  this 
same  year  book: 

My  one  aim  and  desire  has  been  to  have  services  in  which  all  can  heartily 
join.  The  idea  is  too  common,  especially,  I  think,  in  our  Ej^iscopal  Church, 
that  everything  is  done  for  the  peol^le — the  prayers  read  for  them,  and 
God  worshiped  in  our  beautiful  chants  by  proxy.  Witness  the  habit  so 
common  of  sitting  down  when  tliat  sublimest  of  all  hymns,  the  '  Te  Deum,' 
is  being  sung. 

A  hearty  service,  hymns  universally  sung,  prayers  in  which  all  join 
audibly,  are  the  best  preparation  for  a  helpful  sermon ;  while  a  cold  service, 
here  and  there  a  murmur  of  response,  makes  the  time  spent  in  God's  house 
uninteresting  and  profitless. 

Let  all,  then,  join  in  hymns,  chants,  and  responses,  and  if  you  see 
strangers  v/ithout  books,  immediately  supply  them  with  them.  Nothing  of 
this  sort  is  trivial.     We  may  ^-ery  reallj^  help  or  hinder  each  other. 

The  Sunday  services  were  numerous.  The  Holy  Communion  was 
celebrated  at  8  a.m.  with  additional  Celebrations  on  the  first  Sun- 
day of  the  month  at  11  a.m.  and  on  the  third  Sunday  at  8  p.m. 
Morning  service  and  sermon  11  a.m.;  children's  service  and  sermon 
3  p.m.  ;  evening  prayer  and  instruction,  4  p.m.  ;  evangelistic  service 
and  sermon,  8  p.m.  ;  prayer-meeting  at  9  p.m.,  except  on  the  third 
Sunday  when  the  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated.  There  was 
morning  prayer  or  litany  daily  at  9,  except  on  Saturday,  when  there 
was  a  children's  service  and  sermon  at  9.80.  There  were  also  Cele- 
brations of  the  Holy  Communion  on  Wednesdays  at  8  a.m.  and  on 
Thursdays  at  12  m. 

The  various  organizations  already  at  work  may  be  briefly  noted: 
Industrial  School,  with  250  scholars  and  25  teachers,  meeting  every 
Saturday  morning.  Kitchen  Garden  Class,  conducted  by  four 
ladies,  which  met  in  the  chapel  every  afternoon  with  36  pupils. 
Boys'  Club,  organized  January  7,  1884,  to  gather  the  boys  in  the 
neighborhood  and  amuse  and  instruct  them.     Boys  of  from  twelve 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  297 

to  fifteen  years  met  on  Tuesday  evening  and  those  from  sixteen 
to  nineteen  on  Thursday,  the  board  of  management  consisting  of 
fourteen  gentlemen.  Girls'  Friendly  Society,  organized  as  a  branch 
of  the  National  Society,  January  8th,  with  Mrs.  Rainsford  as  presi- 
dent and  fifteen  associates,  ladies  of  education  and  refinement,  who 
conducted  the  Society's  affairs  and  interested  themselves  in  the 
welfare  of  the  girls.  The  stated  object  of  this  Society,  which  has 
branches  throughout  the  Anglican  Communion,  is  "to  bind  to- 
gether in  one  society  Churchwomen  as  Associates  and  girls  and 
young  women  as  Members  for  mutual  help,  religious  and  secular, 
for  sympathy  and  prayer;  and  to  encourage  purity  of  life,  duti- 
fulness  to  parents,  faithfulness  in  work,  and  thrift."  Young  Peo- 
ple's Association,  organized  November  8,  1888,  governed  by  a  board 
of  directors  of  three  male  and  two  female  members,  one  of  the 
clergy  being  its  chairman.  The  organization  met  Thursday  evenings 
for  general  literary  and  musical  exercises.  The  Church's  Work 
among  the  poor  included:  The  poor  fund,  derived  from  the  Com- 
munion Alms  and  from  donations,  administered  by  the  rector,  which 
for  the  thirteen  months  to  March,  1884,  had  amounted  to  $1,756; 
Committee  on  Ministering  to  the  Sick  Poor,  which  supplied  them 
with  delicacies  and  things  necessary;  the  Medical  Department,  in 
charge  of  one  of  the  assistant  clergy,  who  was  a  doctor  of  medicine 
and  reported  that  during  ten  months  1,410  visits  had  been  paid  to 
the  sick  and  1,000  prescriptions  given  out,  and  that  the  total  cost  of 
medicines,  medical  appliances,  and  comforts  for  that  period  had  been 
$212.91.  The  Seaside  "Work,  whose  object  was  to  give  the  poor  of 
the  parish  a  change  of  air  during  the  hottest  weather.  During  the 
first  season,  extending  from  June  4th  to  September  4,  1883,  1,844 
mothers  and  children  had  enjoj^ed  a  day  at  the  seashore,  while 
over  200  were  entertained  for  a  week  in  the  hired  cottage  at  Rock- 
away  Beach. 

In  A  Preacher's  Story  of  his  Work,  Dr.  Rainsford  thus  describes 
conditions  and  the  beginnings  of  his  ministry : 

We  did  not  advertise  St.  George's;  we  put  no  advertisements  of  any  kind 
in  the  papers.  I  began  to  preach  to  a  veiy  small  congregation ;  and  I 
think  it  was  a  great  advantage  to  begin  in  tliis  way  instead  of  having  a 
lot  of  people  around  I  should  have  had  to  fight — people  who  would  be 
sure  to  be  opposed  to  the  things  T  wanted  to  say  and  do.  A  certain  number 
of  people  who  were  here  when  I  came  soon  left;  they  did  not  like  my 
way.  As  an  usher  said,  years  afterward,  '  Those  that  stayed  stood  for 
work,  and  could  stand  anything.' 

We  did  not  open  the  galleries  at  all  for  six  months  after  I  came.  There 
was  none  of  that — I  think  often  harmful — rush  of  strangers  and  curiosity 


298  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

seekers  at  the  beginning;  we  grew,  comparatively  speaking,  slowly.  I 
preached  very  badly  the  first  six  months,  too;  I  don't  know  why;  I  did 
not  feel  as  if  I  had  any  grip  of  things  for  quite  a  long  time.  But  I  think 
a  slow  growth  is  a  great  advantage.  A  great  many  men  are  broadly 
advertised  before  they  come;  people  hear  that  a  great  preacher  is  coming; 
they  crowd  and  rush  at  first,  but  soon  melt  away.  So,  for  the  first  year 
or  Wo,  our  growth  was  slow,  as  our  accounts  show.  Charles  Tracy,  one 
of  the  greatest  helps  a  man  ever  had,  my  senior  warden,  and  I  used  to 
count  over  the  pennies  on  Sunday  evenings. 

I  started  out  in  the  beginning  to  try  to  reach  the  people  in  the  neighboi'- 
hood;  I  knew  they  had  never  been  reached  before;  they  never  could  have 
been  reached  with  the  old  pew  church  system.  Great  changes  had  taken 
place  in  this  part  of  New  York  City.  Houses  that  had  always  been 
occupied  by  one  family  wei-e  constantly  being  given  up,  and  into  these 
houses  came  four  and  five  and  sometimes  more  families.  If  the  Church 
cannot  fit  itself  to  so  moderate  a  change — a  change  wrought  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  a  great  city— is  that  not  a  most  tremendous  criticism  on  the  lack 
of  life,  development,  and  adaptability  in  the  Church  1 

That  was  the  problem  with  which  I  was  confronted.  Here  was  a  church 
which,  in  the  sixties,  had  been  immensely  successful.  After  1865  it  began 
slowly  to  fall  off.  I  found  a  big  church;  empty,  expensive  to  run,  very 
costly  to  heat,  most  inadapted  to  my  work  in  many  ways,  sun-ounded  by  a 
denser  population  than  in  its  palmier  days,  and  yet  incapable  of  reaching 
that  i^opulation,  except  through  the  Sunday-school;  and  the  gulf  between 
the  congTegation  and  the  Sunday-school  was  a  great  one.  How  to  cross 
the  gidf  between  the  Sunday-school  and  St.  George's  broad  aisle-line  of 
pews  was  a  question  to  be  solved;  and  it  was  solved;  otherwise  my  work 
would  have  been  impossible. 

The  Church  ought  to  be  able  to  fit  herself  to  new  conditions.  She  is 
like  a  fisherman  accustomed  to  earn  his  bread  at  catching  herrings;  pres- 
ently the  run  of  hei-rings  goes  away  from  that  section  of  the  sea;  in  their 
place  comes  a  tremendous  run  of  smelts.  If  the  fishennan  could  change 
his  net,  he  would  be  a  richer  man  than  before,  because  smelts  are  better 
fish;  but  he  starves  because  he  cannot  change  the  size  of  the  meshes.  That 
is  putting  it  very  simply ;  that  is  about  the  idiotic  policy  that  the  Protestant 
Church  has  followed.  Follow  the  churches  from  the  Battery  up.  They  can 
minister  fairly  well  to  the  family;  they  know,  by  tradition  received  from 
their  fathers,"  how  to  do  that ;  but  when  that  element  departs,  they  get 
frightened  and  run  after  it.  That  is  precisely  the  situation;  but  the 
churches  do  not  recognize  it. 

The  Rev.  Lindsay  Parker  had  been  added  to  the  staff  in  the  fall 
of  1883,  and  the  number  of  visits  paid  by  the  clergy  during  the 
year  ending  with  Easter,  1884,  was  reported  at  10,872.  The  num- 
ber of  communicants  was  700,  while  the  number  of  communions 
made  had  been  4,713. 

The  moneys  received  and  accounted  for  by  the  rector  from  Janu- 
ary, 1883,  to  April,  1884,  were  Communion  alms  for  the  poor, 
$1,756.60;  for  the  Fresh  Air  Fund,  $],372;  for  special  objects  in 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  299 

the  parish  work,  $1,120;  and  for  other  purposes  $1,009;  total, 
$5,257.60.  The  receipts  of  the  parish  treasurer  for  special  extra 
parochial  objects  were  $1,015.25;  Christmas  offerings  for  decorating 
Church  and  Sunday-school  rooms  $565 ;  to  pay  expense  of  building 
choir-room,  of  alterations  in  the  church,  and  the  new  chancel  organ 
$8,500;  for  purchase  of  No.  205  East  Sixteenth  Street  $6,000; 
special  guaranty  fund  from  January,  1883,  to  April,  1884,  given 
by  J.  P.  Morgan,  Charles  Tracy,  David  Dows,  J.  N.  Stearns,  J.  D. 
AVood,  and  Harvey  Spencer  $10,512.50;  contributions  toward  the 
clergy  house  $1,612 ;  special  cases  $243 ;  collections  in  church  on 
plates  $5,000;  by  envelopes  $6,000;  donations  received  $464;  total, 
by  treasurer,  $39,911.75;  making  the  total  receipts  for  the  fifteen 
months  $45,169.35. 

The  rector  naturally  felt  much  encouraged  by  this  showing  for  the 
first  fifteen  months  of  his  ministry,  yet  he  says : 

But  let  no  one  think  that  the  success  of  St.  George's  work  is  assured. 
We  are  laboiing,  I  do  believe,  on  a  good  plan.  We  have  good  material, 
plenty  of  sand,  lime,  and  briek,  but  a  church  does  not  consist  of  these,  but 
of  sand  and  lime  and  brick  laid  in  good  courses,  and  so  rising  into  a  solid, 
durable  wall. 

This  is  not  the  work  of  a  few,  hut  of  all.  As  in  the  tabernacle  of  old, 
each  must  do  his  or  her  part,  and  that  part  be  a  free-will  offering. 

The  following  description  of  him  at  this  time  is  taken  from  the 
New  York  Tribune: 

The  stalwart,  stout-hearted  young  rector,  skilled  in  aggressive  mission 
duty,  glowing  with  zeal  and  energj^,  wise  in  worldly  experiences  gained  in 
travel  and  manly  adventure,  gifted  with  forensic  power  of  a  sen'ieeable, 
versatile,  compelling  soi't,  fearless,  intrepid,  religious  through  and  through, 
direct,  simple,  and  sincere  as  a  child.  This  is  something  of  the  new  rector's 
outfit,  but  not  all  of  it.  His  presence  itself  is  an  assurance  of  success.  .  .  . 
His  voice  is  wonderful  in  its  breadth  of  register,  ranging  from  a  ringing 
tenor  through  the  baritone  and  resting  on  a  veiy  low,  but  vibrant  and  very 
mellow  bass.  .  .  .  Over  six  feet  in  stature,  strongly  but  not  heavily  framed 
• — blond  complexion.  Standing  in  the  chancel,  while  the  first  verse  of  the 
recessional  hymn  is  being  sung,  the  newly  trained  choir  fails  to  catch  the 
true  rhythm  and  he  involuntarily  sets  them  right,  clapping  liis  hands  two 
or  three  times  energetically.  And  so  he  forges  ahead,  strong  and  hopeful 
in  large,  quick  and  observant  in  lesser  things,  modest,  simple,  drawing 
the  hearts  of  the  young  and  the  old,  friends  and  strangers,  closer  about 
him. 

Under  the  heading  "  A  Successful  Rector,"  Harper's  Weekly  of 
May  2,  1885,  said: 

Mr.  Rainsford  is  popular  in  his  church  and  out  of  it — in  the  pulpit,  in 
society,  and  among  the  poor.  He  has  made  a  great  mark  in  the  pulpit. 
He  is  a  startling  though  not  a  sensational  preacher.    His  ideas  are  striking, 


300  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

and  are  flashed  out  in  quick  consecutiveness,  witli  a  flow  of  language  that 
gives  a  glamor  to  the  whole  discourse.  Few  men  have  at  their  command 
such  a  gift  of  ready  and  cultured  speech.  He  is  never  at  a  loss  for  a  word. 
His  discourses  are  mostly  extemporary.  He  takes  a  few  brief  notes  with 
him  to  the  pulpit,  but  soon  is  taken  out  of  himself,  as  it  were,  by  his 
fleeting  thoughts.  He  speaks  out  his  mind  frankly  and  freely,  and  a 
sermon  from  liim  may  certainly  be  called  the  elegance  of  plain  talk. 

To  gain  a  foothold  with  the  East  Side  people  who  would  not 
be  attracted  to  the  regular  church  services,  the  rector  in  August, 
1884,  began  a  mission  at  253  Avenue  A,  between  Fifteenth  and 
Sixteenth  streets.  There  was  a  small  hall,  of  unsavory  reputation, 
behind  a  saloon  in  this  locality,  and  he  hired  it,  at  first  by  the  week. 
The  first  attempt  at  a  service  was  made  August  31st.  The  entrance 
to  the  hall  was  through  the  saloon,  and  there  w^ere  interruptions  and 
disorder,  which,  however,  gradually  decreased.  In  October  the 
whole  building  was  leased  for  three  years  and  alterations  made, 
the  upper  floors  being  rented  for  tenements  and  the  lower  floor 
being  devoted  to  various  instrumentalities  for  good.  A  Gospel 
service  was  held  regularly  on  Sunday  afternoons  with  congrega- 
tions largely  made  up  of  people  who  had  led  ill-favored  or  degraded 
lives.  A  Sunday-school  was  opened  in  Novem.ber  with  pretty  rough 
material.  The  rector  in  "  A  Preacher's  Story  "  recalls  an  incident 
of  those  tempestuous  days: 

I  remember  one  man  in  particular — a  big,  strong  fellow.  He  came  in 
and  sat  down  in  the  Sunday-school  (by  this  time  1  had  some  of  the  very 
best  teachers  I  could  find  working  there,  and  I  always  put  the  best  workers 
I  had  there),  and  began  to  talk  in  a  way  that  a  man  should  not  talk  to  a 
lady.  He  was  a  little  drunk.  I  saw  the  lady's  face  flush;  I  walked  over, 
and  told  him  to  get  out.  He  w^ould  not  move.  I  said :  '  We  are  here  to 
help  yon  people;  we  are  paid  nothing  for  it;  now,  you  are  enough  of  a 
man  to  respect  a  lady;  why  do  you  sit  here  and  make  it  impossible  for 
her  to  teach  these  boysf  He  swore  at  me  and  would  not  get  out.  'You 
don't  want  me  to  call  a  policeman,  do  you?  Go  out  quietly.'  He  jumped 
to  his  feet,  and  I  saw  I  was  in  for  a  row.  He  was  as  big  a  man  as  I 
am.  I  did  not  call  a  policeman,  but  I  hit  him  harder  than  I  ever  hit  a 
man  in  my  life,  and  knocked  him  down.  Then  I  stood  over  him  and  said; 
*  Have  you  had  enough?'  He  said,  'Yes.'  'All  right,'  I  answered;  'now 
get  out.'     And  he  went. 

About  three  weeks  after  that,  we  got  into  a  scrimmage  outside  the  Sun- 
day-school room  with  some  toughs,  and,  to  my  horror,  I  saw,  elbowing  his 
"way  through  the  crowd,  this  same  burly  fellow,  and  I  began  to  feel  that, 
between  him  and  the  others,  I  would  be  killed,  when,  to  my  astonishment, 
he  walked  up  to  the  ringleader  and  said:  '  Tlie  Doctor  an'  me  can  clean 
out  this  saloon;  you  get  out.'  But  all  that  .sort  of  thing  soon  passed 
away. 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  301 

The  Sunday-school  had  for  its  superintendent  J.  Bryant  Lindley ; 
and  after  the  curiosity  seekers  had  dropped  away  it  settled  down 
into  an  average  attendance  of  80  scholars  and  14  teachers.  Evangel- 
istic services  were  held  Tuesday  and  Thursday  nights,  and  a  read- 
ing-room was  opened  as  a  place  of  refuge  from  the  bar-room  and 
street  corner,  where  papers,  books,  and  games  were  furnished 
Friday  evenings.  The  singing  at  the  services  and  school  had  proved 
a  great  attraction,  and  a  week-day  evening  hour  devoted  to  the 
simplest  form  of  musical  instruction  was  much  appreciated.  From 
time  to  time  five-cent  entertainments  were  provided,  consisting  of 
good  music,  popular  songs,  prestidigitation,  and  stereopticon  views, 
at  which  careworn  mothers  bringing  their  children  were  refreshed 
and  interested,  and  rough  men  showed  their  pleasure  as  some  chord 
vibrated,  which  all  the  wear  and  tear  of  life  had  not  robbed  of  its 
power  of  responding  to  some  touch  of  nature.  A  Helping  Hand 
was  also  organized  in  February,  1884,  which  soon  grew  to  a  mem- 
bership of  seventy-four,  with  twelve  ladies  from  the  Church  to 
teach  and  direct.  Meetings  were  held  each  Tuesday,  opened  with 
bible-reading,  prayer,  and  singing,  lasting  two  hours  and  a  half, 
each  woman  being  credited  with  twelve  cents  an  hour  for  her  sew- 
ing, applicable  to  the  purchase  of  groceries  or  garments. 

Later,  religious  services  of  the  Salvation  Army  pattern  were 
instituted  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  an  addition  to 
the  staff  from  Canada.  The  effort  was  by  every  means  to  do  what 
good  the  workers  could,  to  make  the  people  feel  that  the  Church 
really  cared  to  help  them  in  their  spiritual  and  temporal  needs; 
and  when,  after  some  years  of  effort,  St.  George's  stood  for  some- 
thing in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  those  who  had  been  helped  and 
blessed  through  its  good  work  among  them,  as  the  rector  said:  "  I 
gave  up  Avenue  A  and  drifted  the  people  up  here." 

An  amusing  but  telling  incident  told  by  Jeannette  Gilder  in  the 
New  York  Critic,  IVlay,  1904,  might  here  find  place : 

Some  years  ago — I  forget  just  how  many — I  was  walking'  up  Broadway 
in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  and  at  the  corner  of  Fourteenth  Street,  which 
was  then  what  Broadway  and  Twenty-third  Street  is  to-day,  I  noticed  a 
tall,  good-looking  man,  a  blond,  well  made,  and  evidently  an  Englishman, 
distributing  what  I  thought  were  advertisements,  possibly  of  some  cheap 
restaurant.  '  There,'  said  I  to  myself,  '  is  some  Englishman  who  has  come 
over  here  and  got  stranded,  and  is  taking  the  first  job  that  he  can  get  to 
eaim  a  night's  lodging.'  I  was  tempted  to  go  back  and  speak  to  him,  for 
something  in  the  man's  appearance  impressed  me  favorably;  but  before  I 
put  this  impulse  into  execution  I  met  a  friend,  and  stopped  and  told  him 
about  it.     He  walked  back  with  me  to  have  a  look  at  the  man.     No  sooner 


302  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

did  his  eyes  rest  upon  hira  than  he  turned  toward  me  with  a  pitying 
smile.  'Don't  you  know  who  that  is?'  said  he.  'I  know  notlung  more 
than  I  have  told  you,'  I  replied,  nettled.  *  I  simply  see  in  tljat  man  a 
gentleman  who  is  temporarily  embarrassed.  Now,  what's  the  joke?' 
*  Why,  he  replied,  with  a  laugh,  '  that  is  Rainsford,  the  new  rector  of 
St.  George's.  He  is  distributing  invitations  to  his  mission  over  on  the 
east  side.'  I  was  glad  to  be  put  right,  and  did  not  regret  my  unneces- 
sary sympathy.  I  have  never  told  Dr.  Rainsford  this  anecdote,  but  I  will 
some  day. 

St.  George's  Sunday-school  passed  in  the  fall  of  1884  under  the 
superintending  care  of  the  Rev.  Lindsay  Parker,  who  introduced 
a  better  discipline,  and  with  the  help  of  his  associate,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Henry  Wilson,  who  took  charge  of  the  teacher's  meetings,  made 
])rogress  toward  the  goal  of  a  well-graded  school.  The  teachers 
generally  failed  to  let  the  manifest  advantage  of  the  graded  plan 
outweigh  their  felt  repugnance  to  giving  up  old  scholars  to  whom 
they  were  attached.  They  further  showed  reluctance  to  turn  in 
the  offerings  of  their  classes  to  a  common  treasury,  from  which 
appropriations  should  be  made  by  a  committee  of  the  school  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose.  But  in  due  time  the  new  plans  were  ac- 
cepted and  efficiently  well  worked. 

The  first  copy  of  St.  George's  Chronicle,  a  monthly  publication, 
came  into  being  April  1,  1885,  with  the  following  introduction  by 
the  rector : 

This  little  paper  is  started  in  the  belief  that  it  is  needed,  and  in  the 
hope  that  it  will  prove  to  be  of  use.  The  agencies  for  good  originating  in 
the  parish  and  connected  with  it  are  now  many.  The  progress  and  results 
of  each  are  matters  of  solicitude  to  those  at  work  upon  the  rest,  and  of 
interest  to  the  congregation  at  large.  To  gather  and  report  these  facts 
is  what  is  now  specially  attempted.  A  bulletin  of  regular  and  special 
services;  of  the  various  appointments  of  the  rector  and  assistants;  and 
of  the  hour  of  eveiy  other  meeting  for  a  parish  purpose,  is  appended  as  a 
means  of  ready  information.  The  Church  calendar  for  the  month  is  given, 
with  the  same  end  in  view.  The  Parish  Register,  it  is  thought,  will  be  of 
personal  interest  to  many.  The  Rector's  Column  is  allotted  as  a  means 
of  supplementing  and  renewing  pulpit  notices.  City  Church  news  will 
include  notes  of  services  of  s]iecial  interest  and  other  matters  in  the  city 
which  concern  the  members  of  the  Church. 

The  paper  is  published  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  Avenue  A  Mission. 
The  Committee  is  self-appointed  so  far  as  this  work  is  concerned.  No 
one  else  is  responsible  for  what  the  paper  contains,  unless  the  contrary 
is  expressly  made  to  appear. 

The  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  in  the  early  nineties  to  In- 
dustrial Herald,  because  printed  by  the  boys  in  the  Industrial  Trade 
School,  and  in  1907  became  the  St.  George's  Herald. 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  303 

The  growth  of  the  parish  during  the  year  ending  at  Easter  is 
attested  by  the  fact  that  266  communicants  had  been  added,  making 
the  present  number  966;  the  envelope  system  had  yielded  nearly 
$10,000,  while  the  total  receipts  for  all  purposes  were  in  excess  of 
those  of  the  preceding  year  by  $10,963.66. 

There  had  been  a  marked  increase  also  in  the  attendance  at 
the  Sunday  night  evangelistic  service  and  the  prayer  -  meeting 
which  followed  it ,  and  the  rector  found  that  ' '  many  souls 
had  been  strengthened  and  comforted,  and  we  have  had  the 
joy  of  knowing  that  some  in  that  quiet  half-hour  have  given 
themselves  to  God."  Invitations  to  attend  these  services  were 
every  Sunday  night  distributed  by  a  small  body  of  young  men, 
who  standing  at  street  corners  in  all  weathers  extended  them  to 
passers-by. 

In  response  to  the  inquiry,  ' '  Is  there  no  place  for  tired  mothers  ? '  * 
a  Mothers'  Meeting  was  organized  at  this  time  and  entered  upon  its 
long  career  of  helpfulness.  In  dealing  with  the  problem  of  the 
poor  the  rector's  leading  principle  was  "  to  reduce  the  number  of 
persons  receiving  pensions,  to  help  with  money  as  little  as  possible ; 
but  when  help  is  necessary  not  to  give  in  driblets,  but  to  give  so 
as  to  raise  permanently  those  assisted." 

A  carefully  instructed  class  for  Confirmation  numbering  150, 
young  and  old,  were  presented  to  Assistant-Bishop  Potter  by  the 
rector  on  Friday  evening,  April  24,  1885. 

The  music  had  materially  improved  under  the  skilled  director- 
ship of  J.  G.  Bierck.  The  choir  numbered  seventy-two,  most  of 
them  volunteers,  who  gave  much  time  and  patience  to  the  work. 
The  chancel  organ  was  still  incomplete,  as  several  stops  in- 
cluded in  the  original  design  had  not  as  yet  been  added.  The 
time  seemed  to  have  come  when  this  work  should  be  done,  and 
also  an  electrical  connection  made  with  the  large  gallery  organ. 
The  vestry  ordered  this  whole  work  contracted  for  with  George 
Jardine  &  Son,  the  organ-builders,  at  an  expense  of  $900  for 
the  completion  of  the  chancel  organ  and  $630  for  the  electrical 
connection.  The  contract  was  made  in  November,  1886,  but  took 
some  time  to  execute,  but  by  and  by  the  tones  of  the  great 
organ  blended  with  those  of  the  new  chancel  instrument,  vibrat- 
ing in  harmony  through  the  great  church  edifice  and  adding 
heartiness  and  volume  to  the  worshipful  voices  of  the  choir  and 
congregation. 

The  following  communication  was  received  by  the  vestry  October 
13,  1885,  with  liveliest  satisfaction : 


304  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

New  York,  October  5th,  1885. 

To   the  Rector,   Churchwardens,   and   Vestrymen   of  St.   George's   Church. 

New  York  City. 
Gentlemen  : 

On  behalf  of  the  family  of  the  late  senior  warden,  Charles  Tracy,  I 
wish  to  communicate  to  j'ou,  officially,  their  wish  to  erect  to  his  memory  a 
church  house  to  be  styled  '  The  Memorial  House  of  St.  George's  Church.' 

My  proposition  is  this,  that  your  Corporation  shall  transfer  to  me,  in 
fee  simple,  the  jilot  of  ground  on  East  Sixteenth  Sti"eet  running  from  the 
westerly  line  of  the  rectory  lot  westerly  to  the  easterly  line  of  the  lots 
en  Third  Avenue,  and  running  back  to  the  southerly  line  of  the  adjacent 
lots  on  the  south  side  of  East  Seventeenth  Street. 

Upon  receiving  from  you  the  deed  of  the  property  mentioned,  I  will 
engage  to  have  erected  upon  the  entire  property  a  church  house,  which 
house  shall  include  an  adequate  chapel  and  Sunday-school  rooms;  rooms 
for  the  resident  clergy,  an  office  for  the  Corporation,  and  rooms  for  the 
Mission  work  of  the  parish,  these  latter  to  include  suitable  accommodations 
for  the  Boys'  and  Girls'  Clubs,  Girls'  Friendly  Society,  Helping  Hand, 
etc. ;  also  bath-rooms  and  a  gymnasium. 

When  completed  the  property  to  be  deeded,  free  of  debt,  to  the  Rector, 
Churchwai'dens,  and  Vestrj'men  of  St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  on 
condition  that  they  will  keep  the  same  in  good  repair  and  condition,  and 
use  the  same  exclusively  for  the  parish  work  in  perpetuity. 

If  this  proposition  meets  your  approval,  I  suggest  that  a  committee, 
consisting  of  the  rector,  the  wardens,  Mr.  Spencer,  Mr.  Cutting,  and  Mr. 
Tracy,  be  appointed,  with  full  power  to  assist  in  caii'jdng  out  the  same. 

Yours  Truly, 

J.  PiERPONT  Morgan. 

"Whereupon  it  was 

Eesolved,  That  the  warmest  thanks  of  the  vestry  be  presented  to  Mr. 
Morgan  and  to  the  family  of  the  late  Mr.  Tracy  for  this  most  generous 
and  magnanimous  ctfer,  meeting  a  great  and  increasingly  felt  want  of  the 
parish,  and  that  the  same  be  accepted,  and  the  committee  named  in  Mr. 
Morgan's  letter,  the  rector,  the  wardens,  and  Messrs  Spencer,  Cutting,  and 
Tracy,  be  appointed  to  assist  in  carrying  out  the  object  proposed. 

Steps  were  also  taken  to  secure  the  title  to  the  two  lots  adjoining 
the  old  chapel  then  held  under  lease,  that  the  terms  of  the  above 
proposal  might  be  fully  met. 

The  rector's  salary  was  raised  to  an  annual  $8,000,  the  increase 
to  date  from  the  first  of  November.  The  property  committee  were 
instructed  to  consider  the  matter  of  erecting  memorials  in  the  church 
to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng.  In  pursuance  of 
this  instruction  the  committee  ultimately  recommended  that  marble 
busts  of  the  late  rectors  would  be  the  most  appropriate  memorials; 
and  the  recommendation  being  approved  by  the  vestry,  the  busts 
were  ordered  and  late  in  1887  were  placed  together  with  the  monu- 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  305 

ments  supporting  them  in  their  present  position  in  the   chancel 
arch. 

The  project  of  holding  a  Mission  in  St.  George's  had  been  long 
contemplated  by  the  rector.  Other  city  clergymen  in  sympathy 
with  the  idea  wished  to  join  in  the  movement,  and  the  result  was 
the  great  Advent  Mission  which  developed  in  New  York  in  No- 
vember, 1885,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Rainsford's  long-time 
friend,  the  Rev.  W.  H.  M.  H.  Aitken.  President  of  the  Church  of 
England  Parochial  Missions  Society.  Announcement  of  the  coming 
mission  with  some  explanation  of  its  purpose  was  made  in  the  June 
number  of  St.  George's  Chronicle,  and  the  work  of  preparation, 
so  essential  to  insure  success  in  any  mission,  was  carried  on  aD 
summer.  It  was  on  Saturday  evening,  November  28th,  that  the 
long-talked-of,  long-prayed-over  mission  was  inaugurated  by  an  in- 
formal meeting  in  the  chapel  to  give  a  cordial  welcome  to  the  mis- 
sioners  and  introduce  to  them  the  workers  who  had  volunteered  to 
assist  in  various  departments  of  the  undertaking.  The  public  ser- 
vices on  the  next  day  were  full  of  deepest  interest.  The  solemn 
preparation  of  the  Holy  Communion  ushered  in  the  series  of  wor- 
shipful events.  The  church  was  thronged.  Among  the  many  clergy 
present,  besides  the  Missioners  Mr.  Aitken  and  Mr.  Stephens,  were 
Bishop  BedeU  of  Ohio,  Bishop  Sullivan  of  Algoma,  and  Canon 
Desmoulins  and  Rev.  T.  Brawl  of  Toronto.  Mr.  Aitken  preached 
both  morning  and  evening  and  addressed  a  gathering  of  jnen  only 
in  the  afternoon.  A  meeting  in  the  chapel  for  women  only  was 
addressed  by  Mrs.  Crouch,  while  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stephens  held  the 
interest  of  the  children  and  young  people  in  the  church.  At  the 
evening  service  Mr.  Sankey  sang  and  at  its  close  there  was  an  after- 
meeting.  It  was  a  day  of  long-sustained  and  varied  effort  which 
fitly  ushered  in  the  daily  prayer  and  preaching  which  were  to  prove 
of  such  inestimable  blessing.  The  results  of  the  mission  were  wide- 
spread and  deep,  in  building  up  the  spiritual  life  of  many  a  Chris- 
tian, and  in  attracting  many  from  the  borderland  to  cross  the  line 
and  range  themselves  on  the  Lord's  side. 

Close  following  this  mission  in  New  York,  the  rector  of  St. 
George's  held  one  in  Detroit,  beginning  January  2d,  lasting  twelve 
days.  Bishop  Harris  and  the  city  clergy  co-operated  cordially,  and 
the  results  convinced  them  that  parochial  missions  wisely  conducted 
are  a  most  valuable  helpful  agency  in  furthering  the  Church's  work. 

An  address  had  been  delivered  by  Dr.  Rainsford  in  the  preceding 

month  before  the  semi-centennial  missionary  meeting  in  the  Church 
20 


306  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  Philadelphia,  which  the  Kev.  Robert  C. 
Matlack,  secretary  of  the  Evangelical  Education  Society,  resented 
as  containing  reflections  on  the  educational  societies  of  the  Church. 
On  his  return  from  Detroit,  Dr.  Rainsford  replied  to  Mr.  Matlack, 
January  21,  1886,  in  part  as  follows : 

What  I  did  say  and  I  do  say  is  briefly  this :  the  best  youth  in  our  Chi'istian 
homes  does  not  always  or  even  often  find  its  way  into  the  ministry.  Chris- 
tian parents  put  their  brightest  boys  into  business,  law  or  medicine.  The 
glorious  possibilities  offered  by  the  profession  of  ministers  of  the  ever- 
lastmg  gospel  are  not  appreciated.  We  need  to  begin  at  the  Christian 
home,  create  missionary  enthusiasm  there — so  that  the  pride  of  all  pros- 
perous parishes  should  be  the  young  men  going  forth  from  them  to  preach 
the  gosj^el — to  an  age — than  which  none  ever  needed  it  more  or  was  more 
prepared  to  accord  it  a  more  respectful  hearing.  ...  I  hold  the  present 
system  of  ministerial  education  radically  mistaken.  If  a  young  man  hears. 
'  Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel '  he  will  preach  the  gospel,  and  the 
previous  discipline  of  trial  and  struggle  is  more  valuable  than  any  other 
possible  experience.  If  he  has  no  means,  let  him  first  prove  his  power 
as  a  man  to  hold  some  place  among  his  fellow-men,  then  enter  Holy  Orders 
later  in  life.  .  .  . 

When  Mr.  Rainsford  accepted  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's,  a 
guarantee  fund  of  $10,000  for  three  years  was  assured  to  him  by 
six  members  of  the  vestry  to  insure  the  payment  of  the  Church's 
expenses  over  and  above  its  probable  income.  This  generous  pro- 
vision expired  by  limitation  January  1,  188G.  The  rector  therefore 
appealed  to  the  congregation  for  a  more  general  use  of  the  envelope 
system,  and,  to  such  as  were  able,  to  increase  their  pledges.  The  first 
year  these  had  yielded  about  $4,000.  In  the  second  year  the  amount 
was  nearly  doubled  and  in  the  third  was  trebled,  the  sum  realized 
being  $12,822  from  weekly  pledges  varying  from  $20  to  five  cents. 
In  the  year  book  he  says : 

T  would  indeed  be  ungi-ateful,  if  in  presenting  this  third  Year  Book  to 
the  members  of  St.  George's  congregation,  my  heart  was  not  full  of  thank- 
fulness to  God  and  to  man,  to  one  and  all,  gi'eat  and  small,  poor  and  rich, 
assistants,  vestrymen,  and  church  workers.  I  have  received  nothing  but 
kindness,  friendliest,  heartiest  support  and  help. 

The  success  of  such  work  as  ours — and  we  have  so  far  succeeded  wonder- 
fully— depends  not  on  one  or  two,  but  on  one  and  all  doing  their  duty. 
The  various  parts  of  the  church's  machinery  do  their  work  smoothly  and 
well,  because  workers,  imnoticed  and  unknown  outside  the  limits  of  their 
own  small  sphere,  work  not  with  eye  service  as  men  pleasers,  but  as  the 
servants  of  God,  doing  His  will  from  the  heart.  A  large  band  of  such 
God  has  raised  up  in  St.  George's.  To  these,  in  cliief  part,  is  owing  our 
church's  prosperity. 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  307 

The  Eev.  Lindsay  Parker,  who  had  been  first  assistant  minister, 
resigned  in  April,  1886,  to  accept  the  rectorship  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Brooklyn.  During  his  association  with  St.  George's  he  had 
rendered  most  efficient  and  devoted  service,  strengthening  the 
rector 's  hands  by  loyal  and  intelligent  co  -  operation,  contribut- 
ing materially  to  the  results  achieved.  The  vestry  therefore 
put  on  record  their  "  cordial  appreciation  of  his  faithful  service 
and  heartfelt  regret  at  parting  with  a  co  -  worker,  whose  genial 
temperament  and  noble  qualities  of  heart  and  mind  have  en- 
deared him  to  all  who  have  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  association 
with  him." 

Early  in  1886,  the  title  to  the  lots  adjoining  the  old  chapel,  which 
the  Church  held  under  a  leasehold  interest,  having  been  now  se- 
cured, the  vestry  was  in  a  position  to  comply  with  the  condition 
named  in  Mr.  Morgan's  letter  of  October  5,  1885,  and  ordered  the 
conveyance  to  him  of  these  lots  and  of  the  land  on  which  the  chapel 
stood  as  a  site  upon  which  to  erect  the  new  Memorial  House.  The 
rector  and  the  property  committee  were  empowered  to  make  pro- 
vision for  needed  quarters  for  the  Sunday-school  and  other  parish 
work  during  the  demolition  of  the  two  houses  and  the  chapel  and 
the  erection  of  the  parish  house.  The  place  secured  was  Irving  Hall, 
in  which  the  congregation  worshiped  after  the  fire  of  1865.  The 
Sunday-school  moved  over  on  May  23d.  The  main  school  and  the 
bible  classes  occupied  the  Hall,  its  galleries,  and  boxes.  The  primary 
department,  having  met  in  the  Church  as  previously  directed, 
marched  in  an  attractive  procession  of  470  girls  and  boys  to  the 
rooms  prepared  for  them  adjoining  the  Hall  at  Fifteenth  Street  and 
Irving  Place.  The  new  accommodations,  on  the  whole,  were  quite 
convenient  and  acceptable.  The  school  might  naturally  have  been 
expected  to  decrease  in  number  and  in  discipline,  thus  meeting  in 
an  unaccustomed  place  with  many  of  the  teachers  leaving  for  their 
summer  outing,  and  with  the  loss  of  Mr.  Parker,  their  efficient 
superintendent,  whose  connection  with  the  parish  had  but  shortly 
before  been  severed.  But  all  these  disadvantages  were  overcome. 
There  were  self-sacrificing  teachers  who  remained  throughout  the 
summer  heat  and  volunteers  supplied  the  vacant  seats,  and  there 
was  an  increased  attendance,  while  interest  and  good  order  were 
maintained  under  the  superintendency  of  Mr.  V.  E.  Wetmore,  who 
was  a  teacher  of  a  class  of  boys  in  the  main  school. 

In  the  fall  of  1886  the  vestry  decided  that  the  Easter  offerings 
of  the  congregation  should  be  devoted  to  the  liquidation  of  the 
Church  indebtedness,  and  a  movement  to  secure  $25,000  was  set  on 


308  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

foot  for  that  purpose,  and  $23,400  was  received  and  so  applied  in 
the  following  spring. 

In  March,  1887,  both  Bishop  Potter  and  the  people  of  the  Church 
of  the  Nativity,  in  Avenue  C  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  Streets,  ex- 
pressed a  desire  that  St.  George's  should  take  over  their  property 
and  identify  with  it  their  work  in  Avenue  A.  A  committee  of  the 
vestry,  however,  reported  adversely  to  the  proposition,  and  it  was 
decided  to  be  inexpedient  to  assume  any  responsibility  in  the  matter. 

The  Confirmation  service  of  1887  took  place  on  Sunday,  May  1st. 
The  services  were  most  impressive.  The  Bishop  sat  in  his  chair 
at  the  gate  of  the  chancel  and  the  candidates  came  up  two  by  two, 
and  kneeling  before  him  received  the  imposition  of  hands.  There 
were  161  candidates,  of  whom  70  were  adults.  This  was  followed 
by  the  solemn  service  of  setting  apart  a  deaconess.  The  Bishop's 
address  explained  the  office  and  work  of  a  Deaconess  in  the  Church, 
and  he  then  conferred  the  privilege  and  responsibility  of  that  office 
upon  Julia  Elizabeth  Forneret,  a  trained  nurse  of  large  experience, 
who  had  been  laboring  in  the  parish  for  more  than  a  year,  and  who 
had  proved  the  value  of  the  service  of  a  trained  and  consecrated 
woman.  The  rector  hoped  soon  to  have  others  working  by  her  side 
and  in  due  time  "  to  have  some  little  corner  in  the  city  which  we 
can  call  our  Deaconess'  House." 

The  rector  found  it  necessary,  as  rectors  generally  of  free  churches 
do,  to  perpetually  keep  the  envelope  system  before  the  people's 
minds.     He  wrote  in  1887 : 

Of  all  tbe  1,400  or  1,500  people  present  in  St.  George's  Church  on  Sun- 
day moi'ning,  somewliat  less  than  400  have  joined  our  envelope  system.  It 
necessarily  follows  that  a  very  disproportionate  share  of  the  church's 
necessary  expenses  fall  on  these  comparatively  few  persons.  Speaking 
roug'hly,  these  1,000  non-subscribers  give  less  than  $5,000  a  year^the  four 
hundred  envelopes  yield  a  little  less  than  $15,000.  What  should  be  done? 
Those  who  are  truly  interested  in  our  work  should  all  of  them  lend  a  help- 
ing hand  here;  should  explain  the  envelope  system,  the  absolute  necessity 
there  is  for  adopting  it,  to  those  who  they  know  are  coming  to  the  church, 
and  yet  do  not  join. 

Just  now,  quite  a  number  of  those  who  have  taken  envelopes  in  the 
church  are  returning  them  with  the  statement  that  they  are  leaving  town 
for  the  summer.  Those  who  do  this,  while  they  expect  to  return  in  the 
fall,  surely  cannot  understand  the  object  of  our  envelope  system.  If  they 
rented  a  pew  in  a  pew  church,  they  would  expect  to  pay  rent  for  it  during 
absence  in  the  summer.  By  taking  an  envelope  for  only  part  of  the  year, 
they  immensely  increase  the  work  of  those  volunteers  who  conduct  the 
management  of  our  system.  Much  better  take  an  envelope  for  a  small 
amount,  and  subsciibe  for  a  year  at  a  time.  I  do  not  care  to  constantly 
allude  to  this  subject  from  the  puljiit.     It  would  help  our  church,  if  those 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  309 

who  understand  tlie  absolute  need  of  making  this  system  work  gently 
and  smoothly,  would  use  what  opportunities  they  have  to  explain  its  needs 
to  our  people. 

In  the  spring  of  1888,  he  felt  encouraged,  as  250  new  subscribers 
had  been  added  to  the  list,  and  many  of  them  he  was  glad,  to  know 
were  of  the  poorer  people.  The  annual  receipts  from  the  envelope 
pledges  and  the  plate  collections  for  the  support  of  the  church  had 
at  this  time  reached  the  splendid  total  of  ^20,845.64. 

In  the  year  book  he  sketches  the  kind  of  work  which  St.  George's 
ought  to  do,  and  is  trying  to  accomplish,  and  the  spirit  in  which 
it  ought  to  be  done. 

Honestly  I  believe  we  are  working  on  correct  lines.  I  am  sure  as  I 
can  be  of  anything,  that  the  city  Church  of  the  future  must  jjrosecute 
its  work  in  some  such  directions  as  we  are  trying  to  prosecute  ours.  That 
Church  must  declare  by  its  methods,  as  well  as  by  its  preaching,  that  it 
is  the  visible  embodiment  of  a  message  of  good  things  from  God  to  the 
whole  city  in  which  it  stands.  Its  life  must  touch  at  many  points  the 
city  life  to  which  it  is  set  to  minister.  Semi-weekly  meeting-houses  for 
religious  coteries  churches  must  cease  to  be.  They  must  also  proclaim  the 
fact  that  they  have  so  ceased  to  be,  in  the  ears  of  a  population  that  is 
growing  less  and  less  inclined  to  go  to  church,  and  so  to  listen  to  them 
at  all.  ' 

Services  that  are  beautiful,  yet  simple;  dignified,  yet  earnest,  will  help. 
Preaching  that  does  not  ignore  the  rich  experiences  or  treasuries  of  the 
past,  while  it  remembers  that  in  the  present  lies  its  power  of  unspeakably 
great  opportunity,  Avill  help. 

The  aspect  which  St.  George's  Church  presented  to  observers  is 
indicated  in  the  following  extracts,  the  first  from  Wilson's  Cen- 
tennial History  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  page  250,  and  the 
other  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dyer's  Records  of  an  Active  Life,  page  438 : 

On  the  accession  of  the  present  rector  the  vesti-y  resolved,  at  his  urgent 
request,  to  make  the  church  free,  and  the  results,  not  only  spiritually  and 
socially,  but  financially,  have  gi'eatly  exceeded  their  expectation.  Not  only 
is  the  church  thronged  to  its  atraost  capacity,  and  sei-A'ices  greatly  multi- 
plied and  enriched  with  a  chancel  choir  and  organ,  but  the  voluntary 
contributions  and  offertories  reach  a  far  larger  amount  than  was  ever 
realized  from  pew  rentals.  The  parish  activities  are  greatly  multiplied 
and  in  most  thi-ifty  operation. 

We  have  in  New  York  at  least  two  Churches  entirely  free — there  may  be 
more,  but  I  only  know  of  the  two,  St.  George's  and  the  Holy  Communion. 
These  Churches,  I  am  told,  are  thronged  on  every  Lord's  Day,  and  at 
other  times,  and  these  throngs  are  made  up  of  all  classes.  The  rich  and 
the  poor  sit,  or  stand,  literally,  side  by  side;  no  distinction  is  made.  At 
other  Churches  such  crowds  are  not  seen,  and  why?     I  know  of  but  one 


310  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

reason.  They  do  not  feel  so  at  home  anywhere  else.  The  veiy  crowd 
which  tliey  help  to  make  inspires  a  feeling  of  deep  interest,  and  they 
enter  with  a  whole-hearted  zeal  into  all  the  sei-vices  which  take  place.  Of 
course  they  become  strongly  attached  to  the  Church,  and  are  glad  to  do 
anything  they  can  for  it. 

The  following  characterization  of  the  rector  is  from  The  Evening 
/S'ioiof  May,  1888: 

No  atmosphere  of  theological  formalism  or  ceremonial  lingers  about  this 
deep-chested,  broad-shouldered  Christian  athlete.  He  came  to  St.  George's 
like  a  fresh  life-giving  breeze  from  the  ocean  and  he  started  all  the  drones 
in  that  religious  hive  buzzing  with  industiy.  This  man  is  not  an  intellectual 
giant.  He  does  not  preach  sermons  faultless  in  rhetoric  and  hyper-refined 
in  diction.  But  there  is  always  wholesome  meat  on  the  joints  of  his 
discourse.  His  cliief  strength  lies  in  his  wonderful  capacity  as  an  organizer 
in  church  work,  in  liis  intense  earnestness,  and  in  his  warm  sympathy. 

The  blizzard  in  the  spring  of  1888  afforded  the  Avenue  A  Mis- 
sion an  opportunity  of  doing  some  characteristic  work.  The  mission 
room  was  turned  into  a  sort  of  impromptu  hotel.  Many  poor  fel- 
lows who  otherwise  would  have  been  homeless  gladly  availed  them- 
selves of  the  shelter  and  warmth  therein  provided.  In  the  morning, 
after  a  substantial  breakfast,  they  were  supplied  with  shovels  and 
marched  off  to  the  nearest  street-car  depot.  Most  of  them  returned 
to  the  mission  service  in  the  evening,  having  earned  a  good  days' 
wages,  and  some  became  regular  attendants. 

The  Church  of  the  Reformation  in  Stanton  Street,  sometime 
known  as  Old  Epiphany  House,  because  the  site  had  formerly 
been  occupied  by  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany  before  their  ex- 
change of  property  with  the  Church  of  the  Reformation,  was  placed 
in  charge  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  F.  Miles  in  1886.  The  difficulty  of 
raising  sufficient  revenue,  however,  for  its  adequate  support  as  an 
independent  church  having  become  acute,  the  trustees  of  the  prop- 
erty in  1888  transferred  it  to  St.  George's  Corporation,  which  thus 
became  the  owner  of  this  valuable  property  with  a  commodious  new 
building  on  a  lot  80X100  and  containing  within  its  w^alls  a  church, 
a  Sunday-school  room,  gymnasium.  Girls'  Friendly  rooms  and 
young  men's  club-rooms,  besides  apartments  for  the  minister  in 
charge  and  for  the  janitor.  The  Rev.  Charles  Scadding,  one  of 
the  assistant  ministers,  was  assigned  by  the  rector  to  the  care 
of  this  mission  work  with  its  philanthropic  and  educational 
adjuncts  so  useful  and  necessary  in  a  neighborhood  like  Stanton 
Street. 

An  interesting  function  was  observed  at  morning  service  on  June 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  311 

3,  1888,  when  fourteen  men  of  the  parish  were  set  apart  by  the 
Bishop  as  Lay  Readers.  The  exceeding  value  of  lay  co-operation 
had  always  been  insisted  on  and  its  potency  recognized  and  de- 
veloped by  the  rector  as  an  essential  factor  in  a  well-ordered  and 
efficient  church.  From  the  ranks  of  those  who  had  been  foremost 
in  good  works  these  fourteen  were  selected  to  receive  the  honorable 
official  recognition,  by  the  chief  pastor  of  the  diocese,  of  the  lay- 
man's right  and  willingness  to  work.  Those  who  on  this  occasion 
were  to  be  set  apart  assembled  at  the  chancel-rail  and  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  canonical  office  of  Lay  Readers  in  the  use  of  a  form  of 
service  which  had  been  set  forth  by  the  Bishop  of  Long  Island. 
Bishop  Potter  highly  praised,  in  his  address,  the  efficiency  of  the 
lay  helpers  of  St.  George's  and  testified  that  as  to  some  of  those 
now  receiving  official  recognition,  he  personally  well  knew  their 
qualifications  for  the  work  to  which  they  were  now  formally  called. 

Close  following  this  Sunday,  on  the  ensuing  Thursday,  occurred 
St.  George's  great  red-letter  day  —  the  day  of  dedication  of  its 
Memorial  House.  The  house  was  now  completed,  ready  for  oc- 
cupation. But  not  content  with  the  bestowment  of  this  princely 
gift,  the  generous  donor  crowned  his  own  munificence  by  the  addi- 
tional donation  of  the  three  adjoining  lots  and  houses  on  Third 
Avenue  (Nos.  173,  175,  177)  to  constitute  a  part  of  the  Endowment 
Pund. 

Upon  the  dedication  day,  the  members  of  the  corporation  met 
in  the  vestry-room  together  with  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  the 
Rt.  Rev.  H.  C.  Potter;  the  Presiding  Bishop  of  the  Church,  the 
Rt.  Rev.  John  Williams  of  Connecticut;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Walter  W. 
Williams,  former  rector  of  St.  George's,  and  the  assistant  clergy  of 
the  parish,  and  proceeded  in  a  body  to  the  main  hall  in  the  new 
building,  where  the  specially  arranged  dedicatory  service  was  to  be 
t^onducted.  At  the  point  in  the  order  of  service  designated  for 
that  purpose,  Mr.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  read  the  deed  of  gift  of 
the  Memorial  House  and  also  the  deed  of  gift  of  the  three  houses 
on  Third  Avenue  adjoining,  and  in  delivering  the  deeds  addressed 
the  rector  thus : 


Reverend  Sir: — On  behalf  of  Mrs.  Morsyan,  my  children,  and  myself,  as 
donors,  I  beg  to  present  to  you,  as  the  beloved  rector  of  this  church,  the 
deed  of  this  building  and  the  lots  upon  Avhich  it  has  been  built,  with  the 
prayer  that  under  tlie  guidance  of  an  ovei'ruling  Providence,  it  may  prove 
an  instrument  of  promoting  love,  charity,  and  brotherly  kindness  among 
those  among  -whom  vou  and  vour  successors  in  oflfice  may  minister  in  Holy 
Things.  ^  ^  J  .> 


312  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

The  rector  then  formally  announced  the  grateful  acceptance  of 
both  gifts  by  the  Corporation.  Mr.  Morgan  then  addressed  the 
Bishop  as  follows : 

Right  Reverend  Sir:  In  the  forced  absence  of  my  valued  associate, 
David  Dows,  Esq.,  senior  warden  of  this  corporation,  it  becomes  my  duty 
as  junior  warden  on  behalf  of  the  Rector,  Churchwardens,  and  Vestrymen 
of  St.  George's  Church  to  request  you  as  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  to  set 
apart  and  dedicate  this  building  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  has  been 
erected — tlie  Glory  of  God  and  the  benefit  of  Mankind. 

The  service  then  proceeded.  The  vested  choir  of  the  Church  were 
present.  A  number  of  the  clergy  not  in  surplices  were  occupying 
seats  assigned  to  them.  The  first  address  was  given  by  the  rector 
and  was  so  characteristically  important  and  was  so  true  a  tribute 
to  the  man  whose  honored  name  is  linked  with  the  Memorial  House 
that  it  is  reproduced  in  full : 

Nests  are  generally  supposed  to  be  builded  before  eggs  are  laid  or 
broods  are  hatched;  but  I  must  remind  you  this  morning,  that  we  have  seen 
fit  to  depart  from  the  order  of  nature.  Here  are  not  only  a  goodly  num- 
ber of  eggs,  but  a  brave  number  of  hardy  chicks  who  are  already  able 
to  get  about,  while  this  our  nest  we  open  to-day. 

I  want  you  friends  all  to  understand,  that  the  swarmmg  of  this  morning' 
does  not  mean  for  us  a  new  departure;  we  do  not  intend  to  launch  out 
into  a  number  of  new  activities.  The  rooms  that  you  want  to  inspect 
do  not  imply  a  number  of  untried  undertakings,  guilds,  clubs,  etc.  Briefly, 
what  they  mean  is  this :  that  we  like  what  we  have  seen  of  each  other  in 
the  past  five  years,  and  are  determined  to  see  still  more  of  each  other  in 
the  future. 

There  is  an  immense  gain  in  the  sort  of  parish  life  that  receives  in  this 
building  so  splendid  an  illustration.  In  unnumbered  ways  we  have  reaped 
and  ai'e  reaping  the  benefit  of  living  togethei'.  Any  church  that  in  the 
future  must  work  effectively  amid  the  dense  populations  of  large  cites  at 
least,  must  be  a  church  to  touch  the  life  around  it  with  a  daily  touch. 
However  zealous  the  preaching  or  beautiful  the  services,  if  it  but  claim 
men  and  women's  attention  for  a  brief  portion  of  one  day  in  seven,  it 
must  fail  in  these  days,  seriously  to  affect  their  lives. 

I  will  not  detain  you  this  morniHg,  while  I  detail  those  advantages  that 
come  fi'om  clergy  and  people  living  closely  together  and  being  constantly 
associated.  A  few  ladies  present  will  remember  that  little  meeting  in  my 
own  drawing-room,  nearly  five  years  ago,  when  a  small  band  enabled  me 
to  set  apart  one  house  for  my  assistants,  who  were  still  in  those  days 
to  be  mine.  They  had  not  come  yet.  Since  then  it  has  become  axiomatic 
with  us,  that  two  men  living  together  can  do  more  than  three  men  living 
apart.  And  if  that  up-stairs  Capua,  which  you  are  presently  to  inspect, 
does  not  enervate  our  clerical  energies,  I  think  I  may  say  the  advantages 
of  the  assistants  of  a  parish  like  this  living  together  will  be  as  abundantly 
evidenced  in  the  future  as  it  has  been  in  the  past. 


MEMORIAL    HOUSE     (1888)     AND   RECTORY 
20C   to  209  East  Sixteenth   Street 


THE     RAINSFORD    PERIOD  313 

I  am  to  speak  of  what  this  building  means.  It  means  a  nest  for  a 
brood  already  in  existence,  and  in  a  fairly  thriving  condition.  But  it 
means  more,  more,  my  friends,  than  one  s]dendid  gift,  splendidly  given. 
It  re]iresents  thousands  of  gifts,  free-will  offerings  all.  The  Tabernacle  of 
old  was  builded  by  the  free  offerings  of  the  children  of  Israel.  The  free 
church  it  was  whose  walls  rose,  whose  sumptuous  services  wei'e  dedicated, 
because  princes  and  great  men  gave  gifts  that  were  costly.  Wise  men 
and  women  who  could  work  skilfully,  gave  brains  and  cunnmg  finger- 
work;  and  poor  and  rough  folk,  we  are  told,  brought  even  gifts  so  seem- 
ingly trivial  as  a  little  goat's  hair  or  a  badger  skin.  And  so,  at  last,  the 
perfect  expression  of  a  people's  worsliip,  stood  forth  complete. 

Our  benefactors  this  morning,  and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  vestry,  know 
well,  and  rejoice  with  me  in  knowing,  that  the  self-denying  work  of  hun- 
dreds made  this  building  a  necessity.  I  look  around  this  assembly  this 
morning,  and  see  yoU;  my  friends  and  fellow-workers,  who  for  years  have 
quietly  and  steadily  plodded  on  at  your  work,  sometimes  with  little  encour- 
agement: your  reward — one  reward  at  least — is  this  morning's  gift  and 
service.  It  is  your  work  and  energy,  and  i^raying  and  hoping,  you  teachers 
in  the  Sunday-school,  you  workers  in  Avenue  A,  you  visitors— your  work, 
I  say,  it  is,  that  is  crowned  with  this  splendid  gift  which  we  to-day  dedicate. 
It  is  the  response  to  your  self-denial.  0  God,  the  Father,  and  God,  the 
Saviour,  and  God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  Thee  be  all  the  glory ! 

But  yet,  again,  this  is  a  Memorial  Building  pre-eminently — a  Memorial 
Building  to  as  good  and  true  a  man,  as  faithful  a  friend,  as  sincere  a 
Cln-istian  gentleman,  as  it  has  been  my  fortunate  lot  to  meet.  What 
Charles  Traej^  was  at  home,  what  that  life  was  which  he  and  his  loved 
wife  were  helped  of  God  to  lead,  it  is  not  my  place,  this  morning,  to  tell; 
nor  is  this  the  occasion  on  which  to  tell  it.  But  something  of  the  results 
of  his  work  to  this  church  I  must  speak  of.  Charles  Tracy  was  not  alto- 
gether an  easy  man  to  know;  strong  men  often  are  not.  When  I  came  to 
New  York  in  '82,  he  insisted  on  my  staying  with  him,  and  in  his  bouse 
I  was  a  guest  for  almost  three  months;  and  so  staying,  I  learned  to  know 
him  and  to  love  him  very  deeply.  I  remember  the  evening  talks  we  used 
to  have;  for  visiting  in  St.  George's  Church  was  then,  comparatively 
speaking,  a  simple  matter.  Our  list  of  membership  was  somewhat  brief; 
did  not  require  three  or  four  assistants  to  get  around  it.  And  so  in  the 
evenings  we  used  to  speak  of  the  uncertain  future,  and  many  were  the 
plans  I  talked  over  with  him.  On  one  such  evening,  I  broached  the  idea  of 
this  building,  not  an  altogether  new  one  to  me,  and  I  shall  always  remember 
how  heartily  he  entered  into  it.  '  Tell  your  ideas  to  Morgan,'  he  said.  I 
did  not  know  Mr.  Morgan  so  well  then,  and  to  tell  the  truth  was  a  little 
bit  afraid  of  him.  I  think  perhaps  sometimes  he  must  almost  wish  I  was 
a  little  more  afraid  of  him  now.  Friends,  I  did  go,  I  did  tell  my  ideas, 
and  I  stand  to-day  to  say  I  am  glad  I  did.  I  found  that  he  had  a  gift 
that  T  distinctly  can  never  lay  claim  to — for  that  matter,  no  more  can  my 
assistants — he  had  a  good  memory.  For  some  ten  or  fifteen  minutes,  I 
rapidly  talked  over  with  him  what  I  thought  a  parish  building  ought  to 
be;  and  when,  nearly  two  years  afterward,  on  the  eve  of  his  startmg  to 
England,  he  put  a  paper  in  my  hand,  I  found  that  every  single  particular 
which  I  had  mentioned  he  had  remembered  and  noted  down,  to  find  its 
embodiment  in  brick  and  stone. 

I  learned  to  trust  Mr.  Tracy's  judgment;  and  it  was  well  for  me,  at 


314  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

the  beginning  of  my  ministry,  that  I  liad  so  wise  and  loving  a  counselor 
and  helper.  You,  gentlemen  of  the  vestries  of  '82,  '83,  '84,  '85,  know- 
how  much  we  owe  to  him  in  our  sometimes  protracted  debates  and  con- 
sultations. Do  you  remember  how  heartily  he  took  up  the  idea  of  the 
Envelope  System,  as  being  the  only  way  in  which  to  support  a  free  church? 
Do  you  remember  how  he  made  himself  its  secretary  and  treasurer,  and 
what  enjoyment  he  took  in  the  work  which  to  another  would  have  seemed. 
one  of  drudgery  and  dull  routine?  How  he  did  rejoice  in  the  little  gi'ow- 
ing  pile,  of  contributions;  and  I  remember  on  Sunday  night,  he  could 
scarcely  ever  be  persuaded  to  go  to  bed  till  the  record  of  the  collection  had 
been  taken  and  his  accounts  added  up.  His  faith  was  the  faith  of  a  child; 
his  wisdom  the  ripe  experience  of  a  man  of  affairs;  his  charity  never 
vaunted  itself  and  never  was  puffed  up.  Thank  God,  his  eye  was  not 
dimmed,  nor  was  his  natural  force  abated,  when,  to  quote  old  Bunyan, 
*  The  post  from  the  celestial  city  sounded  his  horn  at  Ms  chamber  door.' 
He  went  from  us  to  the  Lord  he  loved  and  tried  to  serve,  and  I  speak 
no  words  of  exaggerated  eulogy  when  I  say,  taking  him  all  in  all,  we  shall 
not  soon  see  Charles  Tracy's  like  again.  He  rests  not  from  living;  but  in 
living. 

To-day,  we  remember  too,  Louisa   Tracy,   his  wife — brave,   sweet,   and 
true;   she  who   shared  his   eveiy  interest,   and   bore   liim   the   children   for 
whom  we  thank  God  to-day.     In  her,  her  husband  manifestly  found 
'  The  fireside  sweetness,  the  heavenward  lift 
The  hourly  mercy  of  a  woman's  soul.' 

You  will,  I  am  sure,  agree  with  me,  Reverend  Fathers  in  God,  that 
we  have  good  reason  to  thank  our  Lord  for  the  past,  with  all  its  precious 
memories;  and  though  the  future  must  mean  hard  work  and  heavy  respon- 
sibility, who,  looking  round  on  such  an  assembly  as  this,  in  such  a  place 
and  with  such  friends  and  helpers  at  his  side — who  could  be  craven  enough 
to  fear  to  meet  it? 

Time  absolutely  forbids  that  I  should  recall  memories  that  preceded  my 
coming  to  St.  George's;  were  it  not  for  this,  some  lengthened  reference 
would  surely  be  seemly  to  that  brave  and  good  man,  most  eloquent  of 
preachers,  and  indefatigable  of  workers,  who  for  so  many  years  made  the 
Church  of  St.  George's  a  power  in  this  land. 

The  rector,  in  concluding  his  address,  introduced  his  predecessor, 
Dr.  Williams,  as  one  "  who  did  his  best  when  wind  and  tide  were 
against  him  to  make  this  Church  what  it  ought  to  he." 

Bishop  Potter  followed  with  remarks  referring  to  the  setting  apart 
of  the  lay  helpers  on  the  preceding  Sunday,  reiterated  the  value 
of  lay  co-operation,  and  then  introduced  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut. 
The  latter  said  that  his  text  if  he  were  going  to  preach  would 
surely  be  on  this  occasion  "  The  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  min- 
istered unto  but  to  minister,"  and  that  the  noble  practical  work 
of  St.  George's  parish  was  being  looked  up  to  not  only  in  the  city 
of  New  York  but  all  over  the  Church, 

After  the  benediction  by  the  Presiding  Bishop,  all  present  were 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  315 

invited  to  inspect  the  beautiful  Memorial  House.  Tbe  following 
description  of  it  was  prepared  before  it  was  completed,  but  gives 
a  fair  idea  of  what  it  proved  to  be : 

The  lieight  from  gTound  to  eaves  will  be  seventy-two  feet,  to  the  top 
of  the  gable  cross  110  feet,  to  the  top  of  the  tower,  the  greatest  height, 
146  feet.  The  material  will  be  red  sandstone  to  match  the  church,  and 
will  be  relieved  with  carvings  and  fine  traceried  windows,  in  the  main 
Sunday-school  room,  as  well  as  in  the  story  devoted  to  the  clergy  house. 
Throughout,  the  building  Avill  be  fireproof,  with  iron  floors,  brick  arch 
supports,  tile  floors,  and  glazed  brick  walls.  Much  care  has  been  expended 
on  •  drainage,  two  entirely  complete  and  separate  systems  being  carried 
from  basement  to  upper  story  on  opposite  sides  of  the  house;  thus  dressing- 
rooms  and  baths  intended  for  boys  and  girls  respectively  are  quite  distinct 
and  widely  separated. 

In  the  basement  story  will  be  the  apparatus  for  two  elevators  and  the 
furnaces,  and  large  i^reparation  for  the  storage  of  second-hand  clothes  of 
the  Clothing  Fund  Society,  and  for  groceries,  bought  in  quantities,  and 
sold  at  cost  price  to  any  of  the  poor  families  with  whom  the  various  visitors 
and  societies  of  the  parish  bring  it  in  contact,  who  may  desire  it. 

On  the  level  of  the  street,  the  first  story,  will  be  rooms  for  the  infant 
classes  of  the  Sunday-school,  intended  to  accommodate  600  children  in 
classes  of  150  each.  On  this  floor  too,  will  be  the  dispensary,  with  ample 
accommodation  for  the  poor  people  to  meet  the  niu'se  whom  the  parish 
employs. 

The  second  story  will  be  the  main  Sunday-school  room,  with  a  seating 
capacity  of  800.  It  is  ninety  feet  deep  and  is  most  beautiful  in  form, 
having  two  large  transepts;  across  the  transepts  its  width  is  seventy-six 
feet.  The  height  of  nave  and  transepts  is  twenty-four  feet  in  the  clear, 
but  the  sides  of  the  room  are  divided  into  two  stories,  which  are  broken 
off  into  sei^arate  class-rooms  for  the  accommodation  of  older  children  and 
Bible  classes. 

These  two  decks  of  rooms  will  be  used  durmg  the  week  for  the  meetings 
and  classes  of  the  Girls'  Eriendly  Society.  The  members  also  will  have 
the  use  on  certain  evenings  of  the  gymnasium,  and  always  of  the  bath- 
rooms of  the  girls'  side  of  the  house. 

The  features  of  the  third  stoiy  will  be  a  large  gymnasium  16  feet  high, 
with  further  dimensions  of  47X41  feet;  the  spacious  baths  and  dressing- 
rooms  for  women  and  men  will  be  on  opposite  sides.  This  floor  has  club- 
rooms  for  the  men  of  the  parish:  here  will  be  a  writing-room,  and  from 
here  they  will  go  out  to  conduct  the  boys'  clubs  which  they  have  already 
organized  in  widely  separated  parts  of  the  city.  The  men's  club-room  is 
41X35  feet,  and  to  it  is  attached  a  reading-room.  It  is  here  that  young 
men  are  to  find  home  and  social  entertainment,  and  sympathy,  whenever 
they  may  wish  it. 

The  fifth  floor  will  be  called  the  Clergy  House,  where  the  assistant 
clergy  of  the  parish  are  to  live.  Common  kitchen  and  dining-room  ar- 
rangements are  supplemented  by  rooms  held  in  private  by  each  clergyman. 
Preparation  is  made  for  four  assistant  clergymen.  Each  will  have  a  private 
study  and  bedroom. 

The  large  clergj-  parlor  out  of  wliich  the  studies  open  will  be  common 


316  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

frround  to  clei\ey  and  congregation,  and  there  at  any  time  any  member  of 
tlie  congregation  may  find  help  and  sympathy  fi-om  some  of  its  clergy. 
This  will  be  used  as  a  room  for  local  gatherings,  for  pastoral  intercourse 
with  workers,  and  for  any  purpose  the  needs  of  the  parish  may  indicate. 
Still  above  is  the  attic,  not  yet  assigned  to  any  use. 

Floor  plans  of  the  Memorial  House  and  full  details  of  what  the 
various  organizations  are  that  use  it,  and  how  they  carry  on  their 
work,  are  given  in  that  invaluable  and  enlightejiing  book  by  George 
Hodges  and  John  Reichert,  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers,  The 
Administration  of  an  Institutional  Chnrch,  A  Detailed  Account  of 
the  Operation  of  St.  George's  Parish  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

The  completion  of  the  Memorial  Building  having  done  away  with 
any  further  need  of  the  old  Clergy  House  in  Seventeenth  Street, 
the  rector  now  diverted  the  attention  of  the  ladies  who  had  seconded 
his  efforts  to  sustain  the  Clergy  House  into  the  new  line  of  a  similar 
provision  of  a  home  for  deaconesses.  He  rented  the  house  204  East 
Seventeenth  Street,  and  with  the  ladies'  help  established  comfort- 
ably there  the  Deaconess,  Miss  Forneret,  and  her  associates,  Miss 
Simpson  and  Miss  Bolman.  They  visited  the  sick  and  poor  and  in 
addition  to  their  other  duties  took  part  in  the  summer  seaside  work. 

The  first  important  public  gathering  of  a  general  character  in 
the  Memorial  House  was  the  annual  convention  of  the  Brotherhood 
of  St.  Andrew,  which  met  October  18th  to  21st,  The  opening  ser- 
vice was  held  in  the  church,  but  all  the  business  meetings  were 
conducted  in  the  Memorial  House,  whose  unrivaled  facilities  for 
the  convenience  of  such  a  gathering  were  appreciatively  recognized. 

It  having  been  suspected  that  the  spires  of  the  church  had  come 
to  be  in  an  unsafe  condition,  the  architect  was  ordered  to  examine 
them,  and  found  that  the  north  tower,  more  especially  the  south 
side  of  the  same,  from  the  eaves  of  the  church  to  the  bottom 
of  the  steeple ,  had  greatly  suffered  from  the  fire  and  many 
stones  needed  to  be  replaced.  Both  towers  and  steeples  also  needed 
to  be  repointed.  The  vestry  therefore  ordered  this  work  to  be  done, 
and  also  authorized  the  property  committee  to  wire  the  church  for 
lighting  by  electricity.  When  the  electric  lights  had  been  put  in, 
the  vestry  were  informed  by  the  committee,  January,  1889,  that  the 
expense  had  been  met  by  private  subscription.  Subsequently  to 
this  repointing  of  the  spires,  it  was  discovered  in  the  following  year 
that  safety  demanded  that  they  should  be  taken  down,  and  this 
beautiful  feature  of  the  structure  was  most  regretfully  sacrificed. 

The  growth  of  systematic  giving  through  the  envelope  system 
was  steady  although  slow.    Seven  hundred  people  who  by  1889  were 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  317 

thus  contributing  to  Church  support  were  giving  $22,853,  while  the 
other  hundreds  of  attendants  gave  at  the  offertory  $5,170.  The 
rector  pleaded  constantly  for  fuller  acceptance  of  this  financial  plan 
as  absolutely  vital  to  the  success  of  a  free  church. 

For  the  support  of  the  two  missions  of  the  parish  in  Avenue  A 
and  Stanton  Street,  and  the  activities  which  centered  in  the  me- 
morial house,  a  unifying  scheme  had  been  attempted,  aiming  to 
substitute  for  individual  appeals  and  other  means  of  raising  money 
for  these  objects  two  church  collections  in  May  and  November. 
After  a  year's  experience  the  vestry  thoroughly  approved  this  plan 
and  the  congregation  were  most  strongly  urged  to  give  the  needed 
money,  some  $11,000,  in  these  two  collections. 

After  four  years  and  more  of  faithful  and  efficient  service,  the 
organist  and  choir-master,  J.  G.  Bierck,  left  in  the  fall  of  1888, 
and  William  S.  Chester  was  appointed  in  his  place.  The  choir, 
mostly  volunteers,  by  hard  and  earnest  work  encouraged  their  new 
leader's  efforts  to  effect  steady  improvement  in  the  character  and 
rendering  of  the  music  which  was  so  marked  a  feature  of  St.  George's 
worship. 

The  rector  had  for  a  long  time  been  overworked,  and  on  Ash 
Wednesday  afternoon  he  was  taken  with  dizziness  and  obliged  to 
dismiss  the  congregation  without  the  usual  address.  His  physician 
insisted  upon  his  complete  withdrawal  from  all  parish  work  for  a 
time.  Accordingly  on  Monda}'',  March  17,  1889,  he  started  South 
intending  after  a  short  stay  in  Georgia  to  go  West.  He  gained 
strength  wonderfully  under  the  southern  sun.  His  restoration  was 
extremely  rapid  and  encouraging  reports  of  his  condition  followed 
in  quick  succession. 

Meanwhile  the  people  proved  their  loyalty  by  seeking  to  relieve 
their  rector  of  anxiety  as  to  his  parish  work  by  faithfully  complying 
with  the  exhortations  of  his  parting  letter  and  with  those  contained 
in  one  from  the  vestry,  both  letters  being  read  on  Sunday  to  the  con- 
gregation. These  urged  a  prompt  attendance  at  the  services,  keep- 
ing up  contributions,  and  devotion  to  the  parish  work  with  un- 
abated vigor.  The  bishop  kindly  aided  in  securing  clergymen  of 
prominence  to  preach  on  Sunday  mornings.  Archdeacon  Mackay- 
Smith  assumed  the  instruction  of  the  Confirmation  class  for  men 
and  Dr.  Wilson  took  charge  of  that  for  the  women.  On  every  hand 
was  manifested  proof  of  Dr.  Rainsford's  power  in  the  fact  that 
those  whom  he  had  trained  to  work  and  give  and  pray  could  stand 
the  test  in  this  emergency,  wrought  through  his  enforced  absence,  by 
constancy  and  steadfastness.     With  renewed  health  and  increased 


318  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

vigor  he  resumed  his  duties  in  September,  in  time  to  attend  the 
annual  convention  of  the  diocese,  which  this  year  met  by  the 
Bishop's  appointment  in  St.  George's  Church. 

The  General  Convention  of  the  Church  met  also  in  St.  George's 
and  its  Memorial  House  in  the  following  month,  October,  1889.  It 
was  the  Centennial  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Church 
and  the  Ratification  of  the  Book  of  Common  Praj^er.  Matters  of 
large  importance  were  to  be  brought  before  it,  such  as  revision  of 
the  Hymnal,  enrichment  of  the  Prayer  Book  and  flexibility  in  its 
use,  proportionate  representation  of  dioceses,  the  proposed  change 
of  the  Name  of  the  Church  and  pensions  for  the  clergy. 

The  opening  service  was  of  the  old-fashioned  type,  but  orderly 
and  reverent,  and  the  music  was  hearty  and  well  rendered  with  the 
accompaniment  of  both  the  chancel  and  great  organs.  The  volume 
of  tone  and  the  rhythmical  unanimity  of  the  congregational  sing- 
ing were  strikingly  impressive.  The  Bishops  met  in  the  memorial 
house  and  the  Deputies  in  the  church.  The  hospitalities  of  the 
parish  were  much  appreciated  by  the  members  of  the  Convention 
as  attested  by  the  individual  and  official  expressions  of  thanks;  and 
the  quality,  variety,  and  effectiveness  of  the  work  being  done  in 
the  memorial  house  and  the  parochial  missioixs  was  a  revelation  to 
many  and  elicited  much  hearty  commendation. 

It  had  been  a  custom  in  St.  George's  during  the  present  rector's 
incumbency  for  the  people  to  unite  audibly  with  the  minister  in 
repeating  the  General  Thanksgiving.  As  it  was  generally  held  in 
the  Church  at  large  to  be  an  unrubrical  practice,  an  effort  was  made 
in  the  General  Convention  by  those  who  favored  it  to  have  it  de- 
clared permissible.  Both  Houses,  however,  having  gone  on  record 
as  judging  it  unlawful,  the  rector  of  St.  George's  decided  that,  much 
as  he  disliked  to  give  it  up,  individual  preference  should  be  sub- 
ordinate to  law,  and  therefore  asked  the  congregation  to  refrain 
thereafter  from  the  audible  repetition  of  the  General  Thanksgiving 
with  the  minister. 

The  Fresh  Air  work  dates  from  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Eainsford's 
ministry.  In  the  summer  of  1883,  excursions  to  the  seashore  were 
inaugurated.  A  cottage  was  rented  at  Rockaway  Beach  and  large 
numbers  of  the  poorer  parishioners  were  taken  there  for  a  day's 
outing  or  for  a  longer  stay.  The  excursionists,  however,  in  1890 
were  entertained  in  the  new  St.  George's  Cottage-by-the-Sea,  which 
Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan  had  made  possible  by  a  gift  of  land,  200X300 
feet,  upon  which  the  parishioners  had  built  the  house.  It  was  a  two- 
story  and  basement  cottage  with  ten  rooms  on  the  first  floor  and 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  319 

nine  on  the  second,  designed  to  accommodate  some  fifty  people,  while 
underneath  were  located  the  bathing  office  and  the  dressing-rooms. 
The  whole  cost  of  the  building  with  its  furnishings,  exclusive  of  the 
ground,  was  some  $9,000.  During  the  winter  of  1900  a  dormitory 
was  added  to  the  cottage  and  extensive  alterations  and  improve- 
ments were  made  at  a  cost  of  $4,000  more,  which  was  defrayed  by 
Mr.  Morgan.  A  full  description  of  the  floor  space  and  all  con- 
veniences is  given  in  the  Administration  of  an  Institutional  Church 
already  referred  to,  and  which  is  a  veritable  treasure-house  of  plans 
and  methods  by  which  a  modern  church  on  broad  lines  can  be  well 
worked.  The  good  accomplished  by  this  Fresh  Air  work  and  sum- 
mer home  has  been  incalculable.  During  the  previous  year,  with 
only  the  facilities  of  the  two  rented  cottages,  11,443  people  went 
down  for  the  day,  426  were  entertained  for  a  week,  making  a  total 
of  11,869,  at  an  aggregate  cost  of  $3,325.  The  one  -  day  guests 
brought  their  own  lunch,  but  were  supplied  with  coffee,  tea,  and 
milk.  The  whole  work  is  most  admirably  systematized  and  has  been 
continuously  in  full  charge  of  the  superintendent,  John  Reichert, 
and  his  efficient  wife. 

In  the  year  book  of  1890  the  rector  wrote : 

We  are  now  at  last  in  a  loosition  from  which  we  may  begin  to  estimate 
the  advantages  coming  to  ns  from  onr  Memorial  Building.  It  may  not 
be  possible  to  tabulate  them,  but  they  ai"e  none  the  less  important. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  year  we  could  scarcely  form  any  estimate  as 
to  what  the  expenses  of  our  memorial  building  would  be.  To  run  it  has 
cost  about  $6,500,  and  in  large  part  this  must  be  added  to  our  expenses. 

Our  envelopes  have  yielded  $20,843.19.  Loose  cash  on  the  plates 
$4,404.04,  and  $35,791.80  has  been  raised  by  subscription  to  meet  the 
special  expenses  of  the  year.  The  sum  total  of  all  our  gifts  and  offerings 
from  Easter,  1889,  to  1890  has  reached  a  larger  flgxire  than  ever  before — • 
very  nearly  $100,000,  and  m  this  figure  I  include  all  mission  funds,  both 
parochial  and  extra  parochial.  And  when  it  is  remembered  that  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year  I  have  been,  of  necessity,  away  from  the  church 
altogether,  and  during  the  short  time  I  have  been  here  have  only  been 
able  to  do  a  very  little  work,  this  is  in  truth  a  splendid  showing,  and  a 
testimony  that  may  not  be  mistaken  as  to  the  permanence  and  success  of 
the  work  God  has  worked  and  is  working  among  us. 

The  communicants  of  St.  George's  Church  now  number  over  2,400.  Such 
a  list  means  immense  responsibility.  One  thing  is  very  certain  and  that 
is  the  Church  is  drawing  the  very  poor;  they  are  coming  to  our  services, 
more  of  them  and  more  regularly,  year  by  year.     Thank  God  for  this! 

The  subject  of  an  adequate  endowment  to  insure  perpetuity  for 
the  good  work  of  St.  George's  Church  was  one  most  dear  to  Dr. 
Rainsford's  heart,   and  whose   imperative   importance   he   lost  no 


320  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

opportunity  to  urgently  declare.  Not  that  he  wanted  an  endow- 
ment so  large  as  to  diminish  energy  and  effort  on  the  part  of  those 
who  should  enjoy  its  benefits,  but  one  sufficient  to  supplement  the 
giving  of  the  people  and  insure  perpetuation  of  the  work  and  wor- 
ship, when  present  generous  supporters  should  have  died  or  moved 
away.  In  January,  1890,  the  vestry  took  hold  of  the  matter  and 
proper  forms  for  subscription  and  for  bequests  were  directed  to  be 
prepared.  But  it  was  not  until  the  following  year  that  a  decided 
impulse  was  given  to  the  movement  by  a  letter  from  Mr.  J.  Pierpont 
Morgan  of  date  January  26,  1891,  in  which  he  made  the  following 
pledge :  ' '  For  each  hundred  dollars  paid  in  by  any  other  party 
after  this  date  I  will  pay  one  hundred  dollars  in  addition,  these 
payments  on  my  part  to  be  continued  until  the  endowment  of  the 
church  and  memorial  house  shall  reach  the  sum  of  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  provided  this  is  done  within  live  years  from  this 
date." 

At  the  vestry  meeting  of  March  16th,  the  rector  presented  a 
formal  statement  of  his  views  which  were  the  result  he  said  of  the 
convictions  of  years  and  not  hastily  made.  They  were  in  the  form 
of  a  letter  which  here  follows  in  part : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry  and  my  very  dear  Friends: 

I  feel  very  strongly  that  the  time  has  come  when  it  is  my  duty  to  suggest 
to  you  a  course  of  action,  which  I  believe  to  be  essential  to  the  well-being 
and  ultimate  maintenance  of  the  work  of  St.  George's  Parish,  which  I  have 
good  reason  for  believing  is  dear  to  you  as  it  is  to  me. 

I  cannot  but  feel  that  the  work  we  have  attempted  together,  and  in 
which  we  have  been  vouchsafed  so  large  a  measure  of  divine  success,  is 
important  not  only  because  it  implies  the  permanence  of  our  own  parish 
life,  but  because  in  it  we  have  together  succeeded  in  laying  down  some  very 
clear  lines,  on  which,  I  am  fully  persuaded,  those  who  follow  us  in  our 
own  parish  or  in  city  parishes  genei'ally,  must  labor,  if  they  are  to  succeed. 
In  short.  I  do  believe  St.  George's  is  breaking  the  heavy  ice  in  waters  on 
which  others  shall  sail  where  we  have  cleared  the  way.  Our  work  has  a 
city  importance — without  unduly  flattering  ourselves,  I  believe  I  may  say, 
a  national  importance.  Many  ai'e  looking  to  us,  are  wondering  at  what 
we  have  done;  many  are  beginning  to  follow  Avhere  we  have  been  per- 
mitted by  the  Lord  God  the  honor,  in  some  measure,  of  leading  the  way. 
These  things  being  so,  we  have  indeed  a  large  responsibility.  We  must 
not  only  lay  plans  for  immediate  success,  but  we  must,  as  wise  builders, 
see  how  we  shall  provide  against  the  storms  of  the  future.  We  must 
found  our  Church  upon  a  rock.  We  must  anchor  her.  Gentlemen,  as  it 
is  to-day,  you  know  very  well  that,  were  it  not  for  the  generous  offerings 
of  a  few,  we  should  each  vear  face  a  deficit. 

Our  work  will  not.  we  hope,  grow  less.  In  its  veiw  nature,  if  it  succeeds, 
its  success  carries  with  it  a  certainty  of  moderate  expansion ;  and  expansion 
under  those  conditions   under  wliich  we  labor  means   the   expenditure   of 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  321 

more  money  than  we  can  raise  from  those  classes  of  people  to  which  the 
church  is  most  certainly  sent.  A  warm  and  beautiful  sendee,  a  large  and 
stately  church,  a  well-trained  band  of  workers,  and  even  more  than  these, 
those  large,  roomy  sjiaees  which  are  absolutely  essential  to  the  develop- 
ment of  a  work  which  draws  from  the  laboring  and  tenement-house  classes, 
must,  of  necessity,  cost  large  sums  of  money.  A  church  to  do  the  work 
we  are  doing  must  have  space  to  work  in,  and  nothing  in  New  York  costs 
like  space. 

How  shall  we  meet  this  annual  deficit?  The  band  who  can  meet  it  is 
getting  smaller.  Nor  have  we  any  right  to  expect  that,  as  the  few  rich 
and  willing  drop  out,  others  will  take  their  places.  One  we  have  lately 
lost — no  one  has  taken  his  place. 

Some  may  object  to  this  statement,  may  disagree  with  me.  I  can  only 
point  to  the  churches  around  us.  I  can  only  say  that  the  law  that  affects 
them  will  ultimately  affect  ns;  and  the  movement  that  has  led  to  the  aban- 
donment of  scores  of  positions  which,  in  the  vital  interests  of  Christianity, 
should  be  held  to-day  more  strongly  than  they  ever  have  been  held,  is  just 
as  potent  to  affect  us.  Nothing  stands  between  St.  George's  and  retreat 
(and  I  cannot  overstate  what  I  believe  to  be  the  disasters  incident  on  a 
retreat)  but  the  lives  of  two  or  three  men. 

Let  me  speak  with  absolute  frankness.  I  had,  as  you  know,  a  severe 
warning  in  my  work  more  than  two  years  ago.  If  it  had  been  final,  and 
my  work  with  you  had  been  at  an  end,  it  would  be  absolutely  impossible 
for  the  vestry  of  St.  George's  Church  to  secure  the  services  of  a  first-rate 
man  to  cany  on  the  work  which  you  and  I  are  engaged  in,  without  a 
permanent  guarantee  of  an  enlarged  endowment.  Gentlemen,  we  have  led 
the  way  in  aggTessive  parish  work.  Let  ns  lead  the  way  in  providing  for 
the  maintenance  of  that  work. 

If  we  believe,  as  I  think  you  all  do,  that  the  Church  should  bring  to  the 
poorer  populations  her  largest  and  most  generous  aid,  and  not  her  shrunken 
and  shriveled  worship,  as  presented  to  the  working  people  in  a  mission 
chapel,  there  are  onlj-  two  wa^'S  in  which  it  can  be  done. 

It  can  be  done  by  attaching  to  the  churches,  far  away  from  fashionable 
centers,  a  few  rich  and  generous  men.  But  you  must  yourselves  see  that 
tliis  is  to  introduce  a  great  element  of  uncertainty.  Or  it  may  be  done — 
as  I  feel  very  confident  in  the  end  the  common  wisdom  of  our  church 
people  will  say  it  shall  be  done — by  providing  for  these  down-town  churches 
sucli  moderate  endowments  as  will  always  supplement  the  vigorous  work 
and  generous  offerings  of  those  people  who  attend  and  are  benefited  by 
their  services. 

To  supi^ose  for  a  moment  a  not  unlikely  case.  Suppose  that  the  vestry 
secured  as  rector  some  one  who  they  had  good  gi'ound  for  believins"  could 
fill  the  place  and  sustain  our  extended  organizations,  and  that  under  trial 
the  man  chosen  proved  quite  unable  to  do  this — what  then?  As  we  are 
now  situated,  a  few  years  of  leanness  would  hopelessly  complicate  the 
situation.  The  annual  deficit  would  increase  and  mount  up.  The  streams 
that  feed  our  church  life  would  become  dry,  the  pressure  of  circumstances 
would  most  likely  result  in  the  removal  of  the  church  to  some  richer  locality 
^then  what  we  had  done  would  have  been  done  in  vain,  and  St.  George's 
would  add  but  another  to  the  long  list  of  churches  that  have  shamefully 
retreated  before  the  difficulties  they  were  called  on  by  God  resolutely  to 
grapple  with  and  overcome. 
21 


322  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

But  if  we  endow  our  work,  and  so  make  provision  during  our  fat  years 
for  a  possible  succession  of  lean  ones,  we  have,  at  least,  done  our  part  to 
discharge  the  trust  committed  to  us.  By  the  aid  of  an  endowment  the 
church  would  stand  her  ground,  till  famine  times  were  passed  and  pros- 
perous daj'S  once  more  returned. 

I  am  unfeignedly  proud  of  the  resolute  spirit  displayed  years  ago  by 
St.  George's  vestry.  Some  of  you  were  members  then.  Those  were  days 
when  all  tilings  seemed  to  counsel  retreat.  Debts  gi-ew,  and  people  fell 
away.  There  were  few  left  to  stand  by  the  old  church,  but  those  who  did 
stand  did  their  duty.  They  knew  she  had  a  work  to  do  and  a  place  to 
hold  in  the  line  of  battle,  and  they  would  not  leave  a  gap  in  that  line  by 
retreating  to  a  i^osition,  as  they  easily  might  have  done,  of  comparative 
ease  and  comfort.  Thank  God,  gentlemen,  you  then  bravely  so  decided. 
For  full  well,  we  all  know,  that  if  this  or  any  other  church  once  goes  up 
north,  nothing  can  bring  it  back  again. 

But  I  ask,  can  we  so  forget  the  past  and  its  very  real  danger,  as  for  a 
moment  to  justify  ourselves  in  leaving  the  church  open  to  the  recurrence 
of  such  a  danger"?  Is  it  not  but  right  that  we  should  take  every  stej)  to 
provide  against  a  similar  situation?  For  such  a  situation,  you  all  know, 
might  very  easily  again  occur. 

And  now,  gentlemen,  what  shall  we  aim  to  dof  In  mentioning  figures, 
I  do  not  wish  to  be  undei'stood  as  saying  that  it  is  possible  for  us  now  to 
set  any  definite  limit  to  St.  George's  endowment.  I  believe  that  years 
hence  o^r  work  will  have  so  developed  that  what  we  might  regard,  at  pres- 
ent, as  an  adequate  endowment,  we  should  then  consider  qmte  inadequate. 
But  for  the  joresent  it  seems  to  me  that,  if  we  could  raise  our  endowment 
to  $400,000,  we  should  by  doing  this  have  let  down  one  or  two  pretty 
strong  anchors,  that  would  help  us  to  hold  our  own  in  any  stress  of  weather 
that  might  come, 

I  think  there  also  ought  to  be  an  endowment  of  $50,000  for  a  Deaconess* 
House  for  St.  George's  Church.  Grace  Church  has  already  secured  $30,000 
for  a  similar  institution,  and  Dr.  Huntington  has  asked  for  an  endowment 
fund  of  $100,000  more.  But,  hitherto,  I  have  assumed  the  sole  respon- 
sibility of  my  Deaconess'  House,  and  am  quite  willing  to  continue  to  do 
so,  till  the  Vestrj'  think  the  time  has  arrived  for  such  a  measure  of  support 
as  this  I  suggest. 

Gentlemen,  I  beg  you  to  remember  that  this  formal  statement  of  my 
views  is  not  hastily  made.  It  is  the  result  of  the  convictions  of  years,  and 
I  hope  and  believe  with  all  my  heart  that  you  will  see  your  way,  one  and 
all,  to  support  and  carry  fonvard  to  certain  success  this  effort,  which  I 
believe  it  to  be  nothing  less  than  our  duty  to  make. 

The  reading  of  this  cogent  and  conclusive  presentation  of  the  case 
was  followed  by  formal  expression  of  the  vestry's  willingness  to 
co-operate  in  measures  necessary  to  increase  the  Endowment  Fund 
to  $400,000  and  their  pledge  to  use  every  practical  effort  to  that 
end,  and  a  special  committee  was  designated  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Cutting,  Tracy,  and  Bull  to  co-operate  with  the  rector  and  prepare 
a  plan.  The  committee  thereupon  issued  an  appeal  to  all  wor- 
shiping in  St.  George's  Church,  reciting  the  need  of  the  increased 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  323 

endowment  and  Mr.  Morgan's  pledge,  accompanying  their  appeal 
by  a  copy  of  the  rector's  letter  and  a  subscription  card. 

Radical  changes  were  at  this  time  being  made  in  the  method  of 
conducting  the  work  at  the  Stanton  Street  Mission.  The  vestry 
was  convinced  that  the  first  duty  of  the  Church  is  to  carry  on  ef- 
ficiently the  work  that  is  growing  larger  and  more  important  in  the 
parish  house.  The  rector  was  convinced  that  it  is  impossible  to 
achieve  satisfactory  results  among  the  miscellaneous  nationalities  in 
the  Stanton  Street  neighborhood  without  a  much  larger  force  than 
the  Church  is  able  to  put  into  the  field.  One  clergyman  and  one 
deaconess  were  altogether  inadequate  to  the  increasing  demand  for 
more  persistent  and  aggressive  effort.  It  was  therefore  decided  to 
make  the  experiment  of  intrusting  this  entire  work  to  Charles  James 
Wills,  president  of  the  St.  George's  Chapter  of  the  St.  Andrew's 
Brotherhood,  who  with  his  wife  would  reside  in  Stanton  Street  and 
gather  about  him  such  lay  helpers  as  he  might.  The  vestry  in  pur- 
suance of  this  plan  rented  the  property  for  one  dollar  per  year  to  a 
committee  consisting  of  the  rector  and  Messrs.  Cutting,  Stearns, 
Tracy,  Wills,  and  Greenough  on  the  condition  that  the  corporation 
be  released  from  all  financial  obligations  in  connection  with  the 
property  or  work.  Bishop  Potter  expressed  a  cordial  approval  of 
the  plan  and  his  gratification  that  the  new  arrangement  would  con- 
tribute to  the  solution  of  a  question  which  he  deemed  of  first  im- 
portance, "  the  relation  of  lay  work  to  the  Christianization  of  our 
great  cities."  Mr.  Wills  accordingly  entered  upon  his  work  with 
characteristic  zeal  on  Easter  Sunday,  1891. 

On  February  20th,  Mr.  Morgan  addressed  a  letter  to  the  vestry 
in  which  he  said:  "  In  view  of  my  former  undertaking  to  fully 
complete  the  Memorial  Building,  I  now  agree  to  pay  for  such  addi- 
tions and  alterations  to  this  end  as  may  be  specified  and  authorized 
by  a  formal  resolution  of  the  vestry  before  the  1st  of  April  next." 

The  offer  was  accepted  with  the  thanks  of  the  vestry  and  the 
following  additions  and  alterations  were  indicated  as  desirable  to 
be  made :  enlargement  of  the  electric  -  lighting  plant,  increase  of 
boiler  power,  new  pumps,  ventilating  apparatus,  and  reconstruction 
of  roof. 

It  had  been  customary  up  to  1891  to  receive  at  the  offertory  the 
silver  plates  on  which  the  offerings  had  been  deposited,  piled  one 
above  another.  The  rector  having  asked  for  a  large  alms  basin 
into  which  should  be  emptied  the  contents  of  the  plates,  the  ladies  of 
the  Employment  Society  united  to  present  one  to  the  Church  and  it 
was  used  for  the  first  time  on  Easter  Day. 


324  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  rite  of  Confirmation  was  administered  on  Palm  Sunday,  in 
the  absence  of  Bishop  Potter,  by  the  Bishop  of  Mississippi,  Dr.  Hugh 
Miller  Thompson,  to  199  candidates,  the  majority  of  whom  were 
baptized  and  brought  up  in  other  Christian  bodies,  while  two  were 
Chinese  and  one  a  Jew.  Their  former  affiliations  were  Episcopal 
97,  Lutheran  51,  Presbyterian  14,  Methodist  5,  Baptist  6,  Dutch 
Reformed  6,  Congregational  3,  Roman  Catholic  8,  Unitarian  1,  No 
Church  3,  Jewish  1,  Chinese  2,  Unclassified  2.  This  number,  to- 
gether with  those  who  were  confirmed  in  the  Stanton  Street  Mission, 
made  the  total  confirmations  in  the  parish  237  for  the  year. 

At  the  Holy  Communion  at  7  a.m.  on  Easter  Day  there  were 
1,076  communicants,  of  whom  at  least  900  were  wage-earners,  a  class 
too  sparsely  represented  in  our  city  churches.  The  girl  members 
of  this  confirmation  class  were  associated  by  the  rector  into  a  society 
whose  purpose  was  to  deepen  their  spiritual  life  and  to  stimulate 
Christian  activity.  They  were  divided  into  groups  for  mutual  en- 
couragement and  Christian  work  and  were  made  a  part  of  the 
International  Order  of  The  King's  Daughters.  From  this  nucleus 
within  two  years  The  King's  Daughters  of  St.  George's  had  grown 
into  a  membership  of  406. 

As  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school,  Mr.  R.  Fulton  Cutting 
had  succeeded  Mr.  Wetmore  in  1889.  Many  improvements  were 
now  introduced.  Classes  in  the  senior  department  were  curtained 
off  and  as  many  scholars  as  could  be  well  handled  were  assigned  to 
each  good  teacher.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Acheson  assisted  him;  but  while 
Mr.  Cutting  was  absent  on  an  extended  European  trip  Mr.  Acheson 
accepted  a  call  to  Middletown,  Connecticut,  and  the  rector  committed 
the  care  of  the  school  to  Mr.  H.  H.  Pike,  who  had  been  its  secretary 
since  1883.  Upon  Mr.  Cutting's  return  and  at  his  very  earnest 
solicitation  Mr.  Pike  retained  the  position  of  the  school's  superin- 
tendent. It  was  in  one  respect  a  critical  period  in  its  history.  The 
International  System  of  Lessons  had  been  in  use,  with  an  attempt 
at  its  adaptation  to  the  Christian  year  in  leaflets  issued  by  the 
Evangelical  Churchman  Publishing  Company  of  Toronto.  The  in- 
adequacy of  this  system  was  profoundly  felt,  especially  the  evil  of 
substituting  use  of  printed  extracts  from  the  Word  of  God  for  the 
handling  of  the  Book  itself;  and  the  rector  determined  on  the  con- 
tinuous study  for  two  years  of  the  Life  of  Christ,  and  purchased 
200  copies  of  Stoch's  Life  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  distribution 
among  the  teachers  as  the  basis  of  study.  But  just  then  the  at- 
tention of  the  superintendent  having  been  called  to  the  Blakeslee 
System  of  Graded  Lessons,  these  so  commended  themselves  to  him 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  325 

that  samples  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  his  experienced  co-workers, 
and  the  verdict  was  so  favorable  that  soon  the  school,  from  the 
kindergarten  up,  was  studying  the  Life  of  Christ  upon  the  Blakeslee 
method.  A  new  departure  also  was  eifected  by  substituting  for  the 
old  plan  of  teachers'  meetings  the  gathering  of  the  teachers  in  cir- 
cles of  ten  for  study  of  the  lesson,  each  acting  as  leader  in  turn. 

The  project  of  erecting  a  new  organ  in  the  main  school-room 
greatly  interested  the  young  people,  and  their  offerings  for  this 
purpose  amounted  to  $741,  while  a  fair  held  by  them  added  $655 
more,  the  vestry  making  up  the  balance  of  the  cost,  which  was 
$2,446. 

The  Children's  Service  to  familiarize  them  with  the  Prayer  Book 
and  the  Worship  of  the  Church,  which  had  been  held  in  the  memorial 
house  on  Sunday  afternoons,  was  moved  into  the  church  and  an 
auxiliary  vested  choir  of  boys  insured  a  heartj^  rendering  of  the 
music. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  who  had  come  to  be  senior  assistant,  and 
"  to  whose  fervor  and  devotion  to  duty,"  the  rector  testified,  "  so 
much  of  the  success  of  the  early  years  of  our  work  was  due,"  left 
after  a  term  of  service  extending  from  1884  to  1891.  "  By  many 
he  is  missed  for  by  many  he  is  loved." 

The  clerical  staff  was  now  to  be  composed  of  four  young  men. 
From  the  beginning  Dr.  Rainsford  had  a  definite  idea  of  making 
the  experience  in  St.  George's  of  those  who  were  associated  with  him 
helpful  in  their  future  ministry. 

I  think  by  now  most  of  you  understand  the  system  imder  wliieh  the 
younger  clergy  come  and  go  from  St.  George's.  I  am  very  sure  that  our 
great  city  parishes  will  not  dischai'ge  their  obligations  to  the  whole  Church 
unless  they  constitute  themselves  schools  in  which  young  men  of  promise, 
leaving  the  seminaries,  can  gain  a  practice  and  knowledge  of  parochial 
work,  which  will  be  invaluable  to  them  when  they  accept  cures  of  their 
own.  My  effort  is  to  have  four  or  five  young  men  with  me  for  periods 
of  two  to  four  3'ears.  By  that  time  such  help  as  I  can  give  they  have 
gotten,  and  almost  universally  they  themselves  bear  testimony  that  their 
stay  in  St.  George's  has  not  been  in  vain.  This  is  good  for  the  clergrs', 
but  hard  for  the  rector  and  parish.  In  this  connection  I  cannot  sufficiently 
thank  my  fellow-workers  of  the  laity  for  the  invaluable  aid  they  have  given 
me  and  tlie  clergy.  The  younger  clergy  come  in  contact  with  lavmen, 
who  have  been  trained  to  their  efficient  work  for  years  in  the  parish,  and 
they  help  the  clerg\'  as  much  as  these  latter  help  them.  Thus  we  are 
very  democratic  in  St.  George's  and  all,  by  thus  submitting  to  kindly 
criticism,  help  rub  off  each  other's  corners,  and  also  to  strengthen  and 
develojj  an  intelligent  Church  life. 

At  first  we  had  a  system  that  included  senior  and  junior  clergy,  but  I 
found  that  necessarily  seniority  was  accounted  by  length  of  time  and  not 


326  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

by  competency,  and  I  found  that  the  senior,  being  only  human,  arrogated 
to  himself  certain  rights  which  were  not  helpful  to  him  or  to  his  junior 
brothers.  Then  I  got  the  inspiration  that  each  of  mv  clergy  should  be 
the  senior  assistant  for  one  week  in  a  month;  during  that  week  he  is  officer 
of  the  week,  so  to  speak,  as  a  cadet  at  West  Point  is  selected  to  be  officer 
of  the  day;  he  must  see  the  people,  take  the  funerals,  preach,  and  make 
emergency  calls.  This  plan  has  worked  delightfully;  it  gives  each  man 
as  many  rights  as  the  others;  and  in  addition  gives  more  leisure  to  the 
others  to  i-ead.  My  idea  is  to  let  my  associates  enter  fully  into  the  life 
of  the  parish;  to  visit  the  rich,  and  not  simply  the  poor;  to  let  them  see 
me  whenever  they  wish,  and  make  them  feel  that  we  are  working  together. 
Every  Monday  moraing  my  clergy  spend  a  coui^le  of  hours  with  me,  often 
more,  and  during  the  week  they  arc  in  and  out  of  the  study  all  the  time. 
I  expect  good  work,  and  I  get  it.  Give  a  man  a  chance,  and  if  there  is 
anything  in  him  it  will  show.     I  do  not  have  any  trouble  in  keeping  them. 

The  Deaconess  establishment  was  transferred  in  1892  from  its 
temporary  quarters  in  Seventeenth  Street  to  a  building  which  the 
rector  purchased,  standing  on  leased  ground,  in  Sixteenth  Street, 
just  opposite  the  Memorial  House.  Repairs  were  made  and  addi- 
tional furniture  provided  by  the  ladies.  The  value  of  trained  con- 
secrated women  in  the  Church's  work  was  coming  to  be  more  and 
more  acknowledged.  Miss  Clara  H.  Simpson  and  Miss  Hildegarde 
von  Brockdorff  were  formally  admitted  by  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese 
to  the  Order  of  Deaconesses  on  Sunday,  December  4,  1892,  and 
they  with  Deaconess  Forneret  comprised  the  Deaconess  House  staff. 
It  was  an  article  of  belief  with  Dr.  Rainsford  that  deaconesses  are 
as  essential  as  the  junior  clergy  in  the  prosecution  of  the  work  of  a 
great  city  parish,  and  among  the  tenement  houses  he  regarded  them 
as  "  the  very  stay  and  backbone  of  all  that  we  do." 

A  prominent  parishioner  had  written  to  the  rector  in  November, 
1892,  declaring  his  intention  of  leaving  St.  George's  on  the  ground 
that  the  strongly  pronounced  tendency  of  Dr.  Rainsford's  ministry 
was  "  a  too  exclusive  attention  to  what  may  be  called  the  humani- 
tarian side  of  religion."  In  his  kindly  answer  to  his  critic  Dr. 
Rainsford  said: 

I  agree  with  you  that  nothing  is  more  important  than  the  building  up, 
by  the  Church,  of  individual  holiness  of  character.  But.  surely,  this  in 
itself  is  not  our  only  final  aim.  The  individual  member  exists  for  the  body.^ 
The  body  is  God's  witness  to  the  i;niverse  which  He  governs  and  fills  with 
His  life." 

Now,  in  my  judgment  to-day,  the  danger  to  Clnistian  people  is  alto- 
gether on  the  side  of  forgetting  the  social  obligations  of  the  Christian 
Church.  She  is  His  body.  His  bride,  through  which  He  reveals  Himself 
to  the  whole  by  wliom  He  claims  His  rightful  dommion  over  the  whole. 
I   do  not  think,  but  I  know  full  well,  in  tliis   our  hyperprotestant  com- 


THE    KAINSFORD     PERIOD  327 

munity,  the  ordinaiy  Christian  man  has  not  begun  to  grasp  what  this 
means  for  the  Church.  His  religious  life  is  a  thing  between  himself  and 
God,  and  there,  alas,  it  ends,  and  so  dies  too  often  of  inanition,  failing 
to  do  its  duty  to  its  fellow-man. 

You  gladly  admit  that  we  in  St.  George's  are  doing  all  that'  we  can  to 
present,  at  least,  Christian  character  and  practice  to  men.  This,  in  my 
view,  is  the  chief  thing  to-day.  Christ's  law  obeyed  is  what  men  want 
to  see;  it  is  the  best  way  to  present  the  person  and  work  of  Christ  to  a 
community  that  can  be  only  saved  by  these. 

The  foregoing  correspondence  may  serve  to  call  attention  to  the 
transfer  of  emphasis  on  the  part  of  the  rector  of  St.  George's  from 
the  old-time  idea  of  individual  soul-saving  to  social  salvation  as  the 
Church's  mission  in  the  world.  Both  are  indeed  of  primary  im- 
portance, but  the  new  phrase  "  social  salvation  "  stresses  the  ap- 
plication of  the  saving  power  of  religion  to  society  in  a  way  un- 
familiar to  the  older  generation.  The  following  passage  from  The 
Reminiscences  of  Bishop  Thomas  M.  Clark,  published  in  1895,  aptly 
describes  this  newer  application  of  the  Gospel: 

TVe  have  extended  the  range  of  our  work  and  are  now  adjusting  the 
mechanism  of  the  Church  in  order  to  meet  the  emergency.  We  are  begin- 
ning to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  Gospel  must  be  brought  to  bear  directly 
upon  society,  as  well  as  the  individual— its  habits  and  institutions,  its 
modes  of  doing  business,  its  politics,  its  amusements,  and  even^thing  else 
that  pertains  to  the  moral  side  of  our  nature. 

I  have  tliis  moment  taken  up  the  Year-book  of  St.  George's  Church, 
New  York,  and  nothing  could  more  strikingly  illustrate  the  change  of 
which  I  am  speaking.  The  contents  of  this  book  would  have  been  a  puzzle 
to  the  members  of  old  St.  George's  in  Beekman  Street,  and  I  am  afraid 
that  good  Dr.  Milnor  would  have  shaken  his  head  somewhat  ominously 
if  it  had  fallen  under  his  inspection.  I  am  sure  that  he  would  not,  if  he 
had  lived  to  see  how  the  change  came  about,  and  what  has  been  the  result. 
These  are  some  of  the  '  Ecclesiastical  Institutions '  carried  on  under  the 
allspices  of  our  Episcopal  Church :  '  Gymnasium.  Athletic  Club,  Tennis 
Club,  Literary  and  Dramatic  Clubs,  Deaconess'  House,  Free  Circulating 
Library,  Girls'  Friendly  Society,  Industrial  Trade  School  for  Boys,  Kitchen 
Garden,  King's  Daughters,  Girls'  Missionarj'^  Guild,  Employment  Societj'^, 
Mothers'  Meetings,  Relief  Dejmrtment.  Seaside  Work,  Penny  Provident 
Fund,  Tee-to-tum  and  Community  House,  Women's  Baths,'  and  so  on, 
including  many   other   matters   more   distinctively   churchly   and   religious. 

We  believe  that  in  recogTiizing  these  things  as  pertaininsr  to  the  kingdom 
of  God,  we  are  not  only  following  the  example  of  Christ  and  obeying 
His  precepts,  but  we  are  breaking  down  the  old  distinction  between  the 
secular  and  the  religious — not  by  making  our  religion  secular,  but  by 
trj'ing  to  bring  all  things  into  conformity  with  the  mind  of  God.  We 
cannot  believe  that  He  is  interested  only  in  our  Sunday  work,  our  church- 
going  and  prayers  and  sacraments,  and  has  no  concern  with  anything  else 
that  pertains  to  the  welfare  of  the  creatures  whom  He  has  made." 


328  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  plan  and  spirit  of  St.  George's  was  to  utilize  any  available 
instrumentality  to  bring  to  bear  the  Church's  influence  in  the  pro- 
motion of  social  as  well  as  individual  righteousness.  So  a  wide 
range  of  civic  and  of  social  movements  enlisted  the  rector's  ready 
sympathies  and  active  co-operation.  With  characteristic  energy  he 
threw  himself  into  the  forefront  of  the  struggle  for  the  uplift  of 
humanity.  He  realized  that  men  were  turning  from  relationship 
to  organized  Christianity  and  he  would  reach  out  after  them  into 
the  highways  or  the  tenements  and  compel  them  to  come  in.  With 
many-sided  loving  interest  he  sought  to  draw  them  to  accept  the 
service  offered  in  the  name  of  the  divine  Man  of  Men  "  who  went 
about  doing  good."  He  felt  that  the  religious  instinct,  unsatisfied 
by  the  old  presentations  of  religious  life  and  hope,  had  become 
sluggish  through  disuse.  It  needed  spiritual  quickening  truly,  but 
is  ready  to  respond  to  loving  deeds. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  new  choir-room  was  laid  in  October,  1892. 
The  growth  of  the  choir  had  made  increased  accommodation  an  im- 
perative necessity.  The  vestry  bought  a  strip  of  the  adjoining  land 
and  paid  $1,280.45  toward  the  cost  of  the  building,  the  balance, 
$2,965,  having  been  collected  by  the  organist  and  choir-master, 
W.  S.  Chester.  The  new  room  was  heated  with  steam  and  lit  by 
electricity,  and  proved  a  great  convenience  and  material  help  in 
sustaining  the  high  standard  of  the  musical  work  of  the  parish.  The 
choir  numbered  83  members.  The  rector  said :  "  No  words  of  mine 
can  be  too  strong  to  express  my  sense  of  the  value  of  Mr.  Chester's 
services.  The  spirit  and  work  of  our  choir  leave  very  little  to  be 
desired. ' ' 

The  evening  Trade  School  for  boys  was  a  development  of  the 
Boys'  Club.  In  the  fall  of  1892,  the  house  520  East  Eleventh  Street 
was  leased,  altered,  and  fitted  up  for  industrial  work.  The  original 
I)urpose  of  the  boys'  club  was  to  get  them  off  the  streets  and  inter- 
est and  amuse  them.  Gradually  trade  classes  were  formed,  mainly 
for  recreation ;  then  the  mere  recreation  came  to  be  a  minor  feature. 
During  this  winter,  the  trade  school  grew  to  200  members,  divided 
into  two  departments,  main  and  junior,  under  competent  direction 
and  instruction  in  drawing,  carpentering,  and  other  manual  work. 
A  fund  of  $5,000  was  raised  for  its  support,  largely  collected  by  the 
efforts  of  one  interested  lady  of  the  congregation.  The  practical 
usefulness  of  the  trade  school  was  thus  demonstrated  and  better 
facilities  were  before  long  provided. 

The  Boys'  Club,  before  it  was  merged  into  the  Trade  School, 
provided  only  for  boys  under  fifteen  years  of  age.     But  as  only 


THE    RAINSrORD     PERIOD  329 

boys  over  eighteen  were  eligible  for  the  men's  club,  this  left  those 
between  fifteen  and  eighteen  years  of  age,  the  most  critical  period 
in  a  boy's  life,  uncared  for.  Therefore  the  Battalion  Club  was 
organized.  There  were  included  in  this  club  three  separate  de- 
partments, but  closely  associated  through  having  one  common  meet- 
ing-place. These  were  the  military,  the  literary  and  social,  and  the 
athletic  departments.  The  boys  according  to  their  tastes  identified 
themselves  with  one  or  more  of  these.  The  management  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  committee  of  which  one  of  the  clergy  was  the  chair- 
man. 

The  death  of  Charles  J.  Wills,  November  28,  1892,  was  a  most 
serious  bereavement  to  his  rector  and  fellow-laborers  for  Christ. 
"  He  was  a  man  who  gave  himself  to  serve  his  fellows."  It  was 
an  act  of  special  courage  and  self-sacrifice  to  go  down  as  he  did 
to  live  in  Stanton  Street  to  carry  on  that  work.  The  strain  told 
on  his  health ;  he  died  at  his  post,  dearly  loved  by  all  who  knew 
him  and  his  loss  was  irreparable.  His  funeral  in  the  Church  was 
largely  attended,  not  only  by  the  vestry  and  his  fellow-workers  but 
by  members  of  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew  even  from  distant 
cities  who  honored  his  example  and  had  acknowledged  his  leader- 
ship ;  and  people  from  the  sweatshops  and  others  from  the  Stanton 
Street  neighborhood  gathered  to  pay  their  last  tribute  of  regard  for 
a  man  through  whom  so  many  had  been  made  better  and  stronger 
for  the  work  of  life. 

The  care  of  the  Stanton  Street  Mission  now  devolved  on  the  Rev. 
A.  H.  Locke.  The  Sunday-school  w^as  flourishing  though  sorely 
pressed  for  teachers  for  its  five  hundred  children,  and  all  the  other 
agencies  for  good  were  actively  in  operation.  The  Tee-to-tum  at 
153  Essex  Street,  established  in  the  previous  year  through  the 
liberality  of  Mr.  R.  Fulton  Cutting,  was  working  well.  The  vestry, 
however,  in  March,  1894,  decided  it  was  wise  and  best  to  make 
over  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  or  to  such  party  as  he  should  desig- 
nate, the  responsibility  for  the  maintenance  of  the  services  and  work 
in  this  mission  field,  with  the  understanding  that  the  whole  property 
should  be  conveyed  to  the  Cathedral  Trustees,  or  other  body  cor- 
porate, whenever  said  corporation  is  prepared  to  receive  it.  The 
Old  Epiphany  House  thus  became  the  Pro-cathedral  and  so  remained 
until  the  vestry  authorized  the  deeding  of  it,  with  the  Bishop's 
sanction,  in  1903  to  the  New  York  Protestant  Episcopal  City  Mission 
Society;  which  transfer,  however,  was  not  finally  effected  and  re- 
corded until  the  spring  of  1906. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD 
(1893-1905) 

With  the  beginning  of  1893,  Dr.  Rainsford  had  completed  ten 
years  of  labor  in  St.  George's  Church.  During  that  time  vast 
strides  had  been  made  in  the  number  of  persons  ministered  to,  the 
organization  of  agencies  for  good,  the  increase  of  the  real  property 
of  the  parish,  and  the  growth  of  the  endowment  fund.  The  number 
of  individuals  connected  with  the  parish  had  grown  from  about 
2,000  to  5,472,  to  which  should  be  added  2,000  in  the  Stanton  Street 
Mission  and  500  in  the  Avenue  A  Mission — a  total  of  7,972  souls. 
The  communicants  had  increased  from  700  to  3,185  at  the  Church, 
1,000  in  the  Stanton  Street  Mission,  and  200  in  Avenue  A — a  total 
of  4,385.  The  baptisms  had  increased  from  99  in  the  first  year  of 
this  period  to  239  in  the  last ;  confirmations  from  119  to  232 ;  mar- 
riages, 34  to  82;  burials  from  38  to  117.  The  services  had  been 
largely  multiplied  on  week  days  and  Sundays.  The  number  of 
organizations  and  activities  maintained  in  the  parish  house  had 
grown  from  10  to  25,  and  the  volunteer  workers  from  198  to  410. 
The  property  had  been  increased  by  the  addition  of  the  Memorial 
House,  the  Seaside  Cottage,  and  the  Stanton  Street  Mission,  while 
a  house  had  been  purchased  which  stood  on  leased  ground  in  Six- 
teenth Street  for  the  Deaconesses,  and  the  Avenue  A  Mission  and 
the  Boys'  Industrial  Trade  School  occupied  rented  quarters.  The 
endowment  had  grown  from  $80,000  to  $268,836.32,  the  net  income 
from  which  was  very  close  to  $10,000.  The  total  receipts  from 
January  1,  1883,  to  April,  1884  (fifteen  months),  were  $45,169.35, 
as  compared  with  the  receipts  from  April,  1892  to  1893  (twelve 
months) ,  $118,878.33.    A  most  notable  record  of  parochial  progress. 

The  following  pen-picture  of  the  Memorial  House  and  its  activi- 
ties, as  they  existed  at  that  time  is  taken  from  the  year  book  of 
1894: 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  331 

How  to  cultivate  '  Christianity  between  Sundays '  is  the  problem  that 
confronts  the  Church  to-day.  Every  parish  must  grapple  with  the  dif- 
ficulty as  best  it  can.  The  'Memorial  House  is  St.  George's  answer  to  the 
gi-eat  question.  It  is  more — it  is  a  sermon  in  stone.  It  shows  that  what 
is  preached  from  the  pulpit  on  Sundays  is  practised  by  the  pew  on  all  the 
days  of  the  week.  Of  parish  houses  the  memorial  building  is  one  of  the 
earliest,  and  still  one  of  the  best.  Other  parish  buildings  are  open  at  cer- 
tain hours,  on  certain  days,  and  are  closed  at  other  times.  But  the  me- 
morial house  is  always  open.  From  seven  in  the  morning  till  eleven  at 
night  the  doors  are  wide  open,  not  one  or  two  days  in  the  week,  but  all  the 
days  not  for  ten  months,  but  for  every  month,  holidays  and  holy  days 
included. 

It  is  a  house  of  many  rooms.  The  briefest  and  fairest  statement  is  that 
all  the  rooms  are  always  in  use.  Of  course  this  is  not  literally  true.  The 
room  must  be  cleaned,  meetings  do  end,  and  workers  do  depart,  but  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  every  room  in  the  building  is  in  use  at  least  once  every  day 
of  the  week.  John  Wesley  described  the  ideal  Church  as  that  in  which 
*  the  members  were  at  work,  all  at  work,  always  at  work.'  Apply  the 
rule  to  a  building,  and  say  that  the  best  Church-house  is  that  in  which 
the  rooms  are  in  use,  all  in  use,  and  always  in  use,  and  you  describe  the 
Memorial  House  of  St.  George's. 

The  building  stands  behind  the  church  physically  and  educationally. 
The  children  enter  the  Sunday-school,  grow  up,  and  grow  out  into  societies 
which  still  keep  them,  if  not  in  the  Church,  at  least  in  touch  with  it  and 
under  its  influence.  The  boys  enter  the  Battalion — a  military,  social,  and 
literary  society,  and  in  due  time  gTaduate  therefrom  into  the  Men's  Club. 
The  girls  when  old  enough  become  members  of  the  King's  Daughters,  or 
of  the  Girls'  Friendlj-  Society.  There  is  something  for  everybody  in  the 
Memorial  House.  The  child  of  three  and  the  man  of  sixty  find  a  home 
therein,  with  helps  for  head  and  heart  and  hand.  This  will  appear  from 
a  description  of  the  rooms,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  each  room 
in  its  time  plays  many  parts;  the  class-room  of  to-day  is  the  work-room 
of  to-morrow,  the  office  of  the  morning  becomes  the  parlor  of  the  evening, 
A  dance  may  be  going  on  in  one  room,  a  religious  service  in  another,  and 
a  stereopticon  exhibition  in  a  third.  As  various  as  the  life  of  man  is  the 
use  of  the  Memorial  House. 

The  House  is  arranged  with  a  view  to  utility.  The  gi'ound  floor  is  for 
the  practical  affairs  of  the  Parish,  the  reception  of  visitors,  and  of  ap- 
plicants for  aid,  the  arranging  of  work,  and  the  distribution  of  food  and 
clothes.  The  topmost  floor  is  the  parlor  of  the  building.  Here  the  large 
receptions  are  held,  here  the  clergy  live  and  entertain  their  friends  and  co- 
workers. The  building  has  two  entrances — one  admitting  to  the  women's 
side  of  the  house,  the  other  to  the  men's  side,  which  is  also  for  the  people 
generally.  The  women's  side  leads  up  only  two  flights  of  stairs;  the  men's 
goes  up  to  the  top  of  the  building.  On  tliis  side  the  elevator  runs  up  and 
down  constantly.  By  this  arrangement  the  girls  and  women  may  keep 
quite  to  themselves  in  going  out  and  in,  and  the  men  are  equally  free. 
The  advantage  of  tliis  division  of  a  public  building  will  readily  appear  to 
one  who  considers  that  four  or  five  hundred  people  of  all  ages,  of  both 
sexes,  often  enter  in  a  half-hour. 

Three  rooms  in  the  basement  are   occupied  by  the   Battalion,   a  boys' 


332  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

club,  for  elnb-rooms  and  an  armory.  The  rest  of  the  basement  is  occupied 
by  the  engine  and  the  electrie-liglit  plant  and  their  appurtenances.  The 
gi'ound  floor  contains  eight  large  rooms.  On  Sunday  morning  these  are 
used  for  the  Primary  Classes  of  the  Sunday-school.  Later  in  the  day 
they  are  occupied  by  other  societies — the  Chinese  Sunday-school,  Young 
People's  Bible  Classes,  and  the  like.  A  large  and  elegantly  furnislied  room 
on  this  floor  is  the  proper  home  of  St.  George's  Chapter  of  the  Brother- 
hood of  St.  Andrew.  Another  room  is  the  office  of  the  Deaconesses, 
adjoining  which  are  rooms  for  groceries  and  for  clothes.  These  rooms 
are  used  three  nights  in  the  week  and  on  Sunday  afternoons  for  the  Free 
Circulating  Library  of  the  Parish.  Other  rooms  are  occupied  by  the  Girls' 
Friendly  Society,  and  the  largest  room  of  all  is  devoted  to  the  work  of 
the  Employment  Society  in  the  morning  and  the  Kitchen  Garden  in  the 
afternoon,  and  miscellaneous  entertainments  in  the  evening.  Tliis  floor  is 
used  for  various  classes  and  meetings  besides  those  enumerated,  and  the 
same  is  true  of  almost  every  room  in  the  building.  The  second  floor  is 
occupied  by  the  Chapel  and  Main  Sunday-school,  with  sejiarated  Bible 
Class-rooms  adjoining.  On  week  days  the  large  auditorium  sei'\'es  for  the 
meetings  of  the  King's  Daughters,  the  Industrial  School,  and  general 
entertainments.  The  Parish  vestry-room  and  oflice  of  the  Sunday-school 
are  situated  on  this  floor  also,  while  off  the  west  gallery  of  the  Chapel 
are  placed  the  club-rooms  of  the  Girls'  Friendly. 

The  Men's  Club  and  Gymnasium  cover  almost  the  entire  foui'th  floor. 
Three  rooms  are  devoted  exclusively  to  the  use  of  the  club;  a  library  and 
writing-room,  wliere  quiet  reading  or  study  may  be  done ;  a  main  reception- 
room,  which  is  given  over  to  general  conversation  and  amusements,  and  a 
billiard-room.  Back  of  the  club  is  the  gymnasium,  with  dressing-rooms 
and  shower-bath  adjoining,  while  at  one  side  is  the  home  of  the  sexton. 

The  floor  above  this  is  used  as  the  Clergy  House,  and  consists  of  a  large 
drawing-room  at  the  center  of  ten  rooms  which  are  the  private  apartments 
of  those  in  residence.  A  dining-room  and  kitchen  occupy  the  west  wing. 
The  attic  of  the  building  serves  the  purpose  of  a  band-room  for  the  Bat- 
talion. 

After  all,  the  Memorial  House  is  not  a  thing  to  be  described,  but  to  be 
seen.  Wise  men  tell  us  that  life  is  indefinable.  Well,  this  building  is 
alive.  It  looks  like  nothing  so  much  as  a  big  hive.  So  it  has  been  de- 
scribed, and  the  name  fits  it. 

In  the  spring  of  1892,  Dr.  Rainsford  first  he^an  to  speak  upon 
the  Drink  Problem  and  the  Saloon  Question.  His  views  upon  the 
subject  were  clean-cut  and  forcibly  expressed,  but  by  many  he  was 
persistently  misunderstood  and  by  some  misrepresented.  In  the 
May  number  of  the  North  American  Revieiv  he  contributed  an  arti- 
cle under  the  caption  "  Possible  Reformation  of  the  Drink  Traffic,  "^ 
to  which  he  invited  criticism.  He  pointed  out  in  this  article  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  reforming  the  traffic,  especially  in  large  cities^ 
on  account  of  the  enemies  of  reform  who  were  both  many  and 
mighty.  The  professional  politician  is  bound  up  with  the  traffic 
in  many  ways.     Some  of  the  methods  of  attempting  temperance 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  333 

reform  he  could  not  approve.  He  recognized  the  fact  that  well- 
conducted  coffee-houses,  tee-to-tums,  and  the  like  do  good,  and  had 
no  doubt  that  by  multiplying  such  resorts  something  could  be  ac- 
complished; but  these  expedients  will  not  touch  the  case  of  those 
who  insist  upon  having  alcohol  in  one  shape  or  another.  He  would 
not  stand  for  allowing  liberty  in  this  matter  to  the  rich  in  their 
social  clubs,  while  denying  to  the  wage-earner  the  same  liberty  in 
the  only  substitute  for  the  club  open  to  him,  the  corner  saloon. 
The  present  saloon  indeed  embodies,  as  all  know,  the  worst  features 
of  the  liquor  trade.  It  is  contrived  to  push  the  sale  of  drink,  and 
until  people  realize  that  the  real  root  of  the  worst  evils  of  the  liquor 
traffic  is  to  be  found  in  the  personal  profit  made  out  of  the  trade 
little  real  reform  will  be  accomplished,  but  "  sooner  or  later  it  will 
become  evident  that  it  is  in  the  highest  degree  unwise  and  inex- 
pedient to  leave  the  sale  of  alcohol  in  private  hands,  to  permit  its 
manufacture  and  distribution  to  be  a  matter  of  private  enterprise. 
Some  such  regulative  system  as  that  adopted  in  Sweden  and  Norway, 
where  within  fifteen  years  the  total  sales  of  spirits  has  been  reduced 
by  one-half,  or  some  improvement  on  that  system,  will  be  adopted 
here."  The  impetus  for  the  improvement  of  the  saloon  he  thought 
must  come  from  the  members  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
Churches  as  such  cannot  go  into  the  liquor  business  nor  in  fact 
deal  officially  with  many  social  problems,  but  they  can  furnish 
concrete  examples  of  what  can  be  done.  The  process  by  which  the 
voluntary  kindergarten  paved  the  way  for  the  incorporation  of  the 
kindergarten  system  into  the  public  schools  illustrates  how  this 
might  be  accomplished.  Saloons  can  be  established  and  conducted 
which  should  serve  as  models.  "  The  Public  house  that  the  people 
need,"  he  wrote,  "is  no  mere  dram-shop,  but  a  commodious  meet- 
ing-place, a  club-house.  It  must  provide  amusement,  music  cer- 
tainly. It  needs  no  standing  bar.  Its  food  supply  must  be  plenti- 
ful, cheap,  varied,  and  well  cooked.  Milk,  coffee,  and  tea  must  be 
as  much  its  staple  trade  as  beer,  wines,  and  in  some  cases  perhaps 
spirits.  It  should  be  a  directly  business  concern,  with  no  savor  of 
crankdom  or  religion  about  it." 

The  New  York  Times  of  January  29th  contained  this  comment: 

Such  a  saloon  as  Dr.  Rainsford  has  in  mind  would  be  a  benefaction  to 
its  neighborhood,  and  would  resemble  the  German  family  resort  rather 
than  the  American  bar,  which  is  \-isibly  superseding  the  family  resort, 
even  in  the  German  quarters  of  the  town.  There  is  no  reason  'why  Dr. 
Rainsford's  clerical  brethren  should  not  join  him  in  his  efforts  to  procure 
the  establishment  of  such  places,  nor  why  rich  and  generous  laymen  should 


334  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

not  make  their  efforts  practicable.  Certainly  such  a  movement  would  do 
more  for  '  temperance  reform '  than  all  the  prohibitionists  have  succeeded 
in  accomplishing. 

Until  some  proper  substitute  for  the  saloon  could  be  offered,  Dr. 
Eainsford  was  not  in  favor  of  sweeping  away  the  drinking-places. 
"  I  would  not  do  it  if  I  could  by  the  raising  of  my  hand.  The 
drunkard  is  made  by  his  environment.  It  is  hard  enough  for  people 
who  have  good  surroundings  to  keep  straight.  How  much  harder 
it  is  for  those  who  have  the  wretched  surroundings  of  the  poor! 
No,  the  labor  must  be  to  better  men's  conditions;  to  give  them 
better  modes  of  relaxation  before  we  take  away  those  they  have, 
bad  as  they  are. ' ' 

Not  only  did  some  people  think  that  the  rector  of  St.  George's 
intended  to  open  a  saloon,  but  he  was  in  receipt  of  letters  from 
business  men  asking  him  to  talk  the  matter  over  with  them  as  a 
business  proposition. 

The  following  condensation  of  his  views  upon  some  aspects  of  this 
subject  is  given  from  an  article  appearing  in  St.  George's  Chronicle 
in  February,  1893 : 

He  was  not  in  sympathy  with  present  methods  of  rescue  work,  which  he 
regarded  as  unintelligent  and  the  results  altogether  unsatisfactorv\  And 
this  because  the  drunkard  is  apjiroaehed  almost  entirely  on  the  emotional 
side  of  his  nature  in  the  religious  meeting  which  he  is  induced  to  attend. 
He  responds  to  some  earnest  appeal,  pities  himself,  repeats  his  wretched 
story,  and  the  real  man  in  him  becomes  weaker  and  less  able  to  grapple 
with  his  foe.  Nor  do  those  who  regard  the  drunkard  as  a  criminal  recog- 
nize the  real  needs  in  the  case  any  better  than  the  emotionalists.  They 
ignore  heredity  and  do  not  allow  enough  for  environment,  and  while  con- 
stantly asserting  that  drink  makes  misery  they  forget  that  misery  too  makes 
drink.  Bringing  the  drunkard  under  the  ban  of  the  law  will  not  reform 
him.  Prohibition  is  a  well-meant  crime,  a  conspiracy  in  the  interests  of 
man  against  manhood.  High  license  is  only  a  break  on  the  wheel  of  the 
runaway  coach.  You  must  get  at  the  horses'  heads,  if  you  would  avoid 
the  ditch.  What  are  coffee-houses— the  best,  most  practical  efforts,  per- 
haps, made  by  temperance  folks'?  Excellent  things,  in  every  way,  if  you 
only  want  coffee.  But  are  we  fools  and  blind  enough  to  believe  that 
we  can  suddenly  eradicate  an  almost  universal  desire  for  alcohol,  meet 
and  overcome  it  with  the  presentation  of  an  occasional  coffee-house?  No, 
our  treatment  has  to  be  much  more  radical  than  this. 

What,  then,  may  be  attempted?  What  direction  shall  we  best,  most 
hopefully  give  to  our  efforts?  Briefly,  I  reply  in  the  use  of  a  simile.  The 
drink  trade,  at  present  a  curse,  a  blight,  a  pestilence,  must  be  inoculated. 
We  must  inoculate  the  bad  saloons  with  the  better  saloons.  One  of  the 
most  wonderful  discoveries  of  hum^an  genius  was  that  like  cured  like. 
At  first  men  laughed ;  at  last  they  believed.  Like  cured  like,  sang  its  gospel, 
and  smallpox  almost  vanished  from  the  face  of  the  earth;  and  with  this 


THE     RAINSFORD     PERIOD  335 

knowledge  science  to-day  is  assailing  hydrophobia,  consumption,  and  even 
cholera.  Let  us  inoculate  the  drink  ti'ade.  We  may  hope,  perhaps,  in 
time  to  win  a  purely  scientific  aid  in  some  measure  to  offset  the  tragic 
facts  of  heredity.  But  however  science  may  be  able  to  aid  us  in  this  gTeat 
contest,  it  must  always,  it  seems  to  me,  mainly  be  a  moral  one.  We  can- 
not hope  to  win  moral  victories  by  inmioral  means.  We  cannot  hope 
to  help  men  to  live  true,  self-respecting  lives,  by  restricting  their  freedom, 
by  plotting  against  their  manhood.  Perhaps  no  community  ever  stood  so 
greatly  in  need  of  places  of  social  intercourse  as  our  own.  Drink  has 
claimed  and  holds  these  places.  The  social  instinct  draws  them  to  the 
saloon,  there  di'ink  lies  in  wait  to  destroy  them.  What  they  must  have 
are  better  provisions  for  social  needs.  It  is  folly  to  attack  the  saloon  till 
you  provide  a  substitute — we  can  only  oust  the  bad  club  by  bringing  in  a 
good.  People  in  New  York  cannot  and  will  not  do  without  saloons.  In- 
oculate these  places.  Put  on  the  market  a  saloon  roomy  instead  of 
cramped;  with  small  bar,  instead  of  all  bar;  with  tables,  clean  food, 
cheap,  wholesome,  non-intoxicating  drinks,  at  cost  jDrice,  or  near  it — good 
beer,  wine,  all  of  the  purest,  at  prices  that  will  pay  a  large  profit.  Do 
all  you  can  to  stimulate  the  sale  of  the  lighter  and  healthier,  and  I'etard 
that  of  the  worst  sort  of  drink.  In  short,  bring  to  compete  with  the 
present  gin-mill,  a  model  saloon,  where  a  man  is  not  ashamed  to  bring 
his  wife  and  children,  and  where  things  beautiful  and  clean  and  of  good 
report  distinctively  predominate. 

Dr.  Kainsford  was  in  favor  of  permitting  the  saloon  to  be  open, 
during  certain  hours  on  Sunday.  A  mass-meeting  to  favor  the  pas- 
sage of  a  law  to  legalize  such  opening  was  held  in  Cooper  Union, 
March  14,  1895,  at  which  the  rector  of  St.  George's  made  an  able 
and  courageous  speech,  in  which  he  argued  that  it  would  diminish 
law-breaking,  would  be  fairer  to  the  poor  man  and  the  working 
classes,  since  the  present  system  practically  discriminates  between 
the  rich  and  poor,  would  tend  to  diminish  drunkenness  by  doing 
away  with  drinking  in  the  tenement  houses,  and  would  do  much  to 
take  the  saloon  out  of  politics  by  making  blackmail  more  difficult. 
This  is  in  substance  what  he  said : 

First,  I  believe  that  the  opening  of  saloons  for  certain  hours  on  Sunday 
would  diminish  lawbreaking.  There  are  two  sorts  of  bad  laws,  those  that 
in  themselves  are  bad  and  \dcious,  and  we  all  know  what  they  are,  every 
blessed  one  of  us,  and  there  are  laws  that  in  themselves  are  good  but  yet 
do  not  express  the  settled  moral  convictions  of  the  people.  They  are  not 
backed  by  public  conscience.  Their  aim  may  be  excellent,  yet  their  prac- 
tical result  is  that  they  defeat  the  aims  of  those  who  framed  and  enacted 
them.  Great  masses  of  people  will  not  obey  laws  that  do  not  approve 
themselves  to  them.  They  may  not  be  harsh  and  unjust  laws;  but  if  the 
settled  conviction  of  the  people  is  that  they  are  harsh  and  unjust,  it  will 
be  impossible  to  have  them  obeyed. 

Now,  in  this  city  of  New  York  we  have  just  this  situation.  This  city 
is   not   an   American   city  only.     It   is   a   cosmopolitan   city.     It   is   Irish, 


336  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

German,  Italian,  and  people  of  these  nationalities,  however  good  citizens 
they  are,  believe  that  the  law  closing  the  saloons  on  Sunday  is  a  harsh  law; 
a  law  imposed  on  them  from  the  outside;  a  piece  of  Albanyism;  and  so 
they  evade  it.  I  do  not  say  that  this  is  true  of  Irish  or  Germans  alone; 
it  is  also  true  of  a  large  proportion  of  our  American  population.  The 
net  result  is  that  we  are  treated  to  the  admitted  shame  and  fraud  of  a 
pretended  closing  of  the  saloons.  The  policemen  wink,  the  blinds  are 
drawn  down,  men,  and  sometimes  women  and  children,  slink  in  at  back- 
doors and  out  of  half-closed  doors,  and  the  whole  city  receives  a  lesson 
as  to  the  low  regard  which  a  multitude  of  its  citizens  and  its  officials 
have  of  the  law  the  latter  are  sworn  to  enforce. 

I  tliink  that  perhaps  the  greatest  danger  confronting  us  to-day  as  a 
Nation  is  the  low  conception  that  a  great  many  of  our  people  have  of  the 
law.  We  cannot  be  truly  civilized,  we  cannot  develop  in  any  of  those 
things  that  make  for  true  greatness  and  progress,  as  long  as  our  regard 
for  law  is  as  shamefully  light  as  it  is  now.  This  applies  to  all  sections 
of  the  community,  the  richest  as  well  as  the  poorest;  and  I  say  again, 
with  all  the  emphasis  of  which  I  am  capable,  that  to  raise  our  National 
conception  of  the  righteousness  of  law  we  must  be  careful  that  our  laws 
express  the  moral  convictions  of  the  people  and  do  not  go  beyond  them  or 
yet  lag  behind  them. 

Again,  I  am  in  favor  of  opening  the  saloon  on  Sunday,  because  I  think 
such  action  fairer  to  the  poor  man  and  the  working  classes.  It  is  a  fact 
which  we  must  face — a  sad  fact,  perhaps,  but  nevertheless  true — that  the 
saloon  is  the  only  club  the  poor  man  has.  The  conditions  of  life  in  tliis 
city  make  that  the  fact,  and  I  say,  in  all  sincerity,  we  have  no  right  to 
close  the  only  club  he  has  until  we  give  him  another.  Let  me  not  be 
misunderstood  here.  I  do  not  want  to  encourage  drunkenness,  not  even 
to  encourage  moderate  drinking.  I  am  a  total  abstainer  myself.  Per- 
sonally, I  believe  the  vast  majority  of  men  in  eveiy  way  are  healthier 
and  richer  and  happier  for  not  touching  any  alcohol.  I  have  tried  both 
jjlans  myself.  I  was  once  a  moderate  drinker.  My  experience  agrees  with 
that  of  the  great  majority  of  those  who  have  tried  it.  Men  are  better  in 
every  way  for  not  touching  liquor  at  all.  But  this  is  beside  the  question. 
I  may  convince  m,y  neighbor  of  this  truth;  I  cannot  force  him  to  it.  I 
may  bring  him,  literally,  to  the  water,  but  I  cannot  make  him  drink;  and 
I  help  him  to  be  reasonable  by  treating  him  reasonably.  Now,  the  poor 
man  does  not  go  to  the  saloon  simply  to  drink  or  to  smoke.  He  goes  to 
meet  his  friends,  and  he  has  got  to  go  there  to  meet  his  friends,  for  he 
has  no  home  in  which  they  can  meet  him.  His  tenement  is  too  crowded, 
and  there  is  too  much  going  on  in  it.  Now,  you  have  no  right  to  close  up 
the  working-man's  club  on  Sunday.  If  you  do,  you  should  close  the  gentle- 
man's club  too. 

I  wish  we  were  in  a  position  to  do  without  opening  saloons  on  Sunday. 
But  what  I  contend  is  that  in  the  present  crowded  state  of  our  great  city 
it  is  impossible.  We  must  give  the  working  people  the  opportunity  for 
the  development  of  their  social  instincts. 

For  a  third  reason  I  am  in  favor  of  opening  saloons  on  Sunday.  I 
believe  it  would  directly  tend  to  diminish  drunkenness.  In  a  city  of  two 
millions,  if  people  want  to  get  liquor,  they  will  get  liquor.  If  they  have 
got  to  send  their  children  on  Saturday  night  and  store  it  in  their  tenement- 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  337 

houses  so  that  they  may  have  a  soak  and  booze  on  Sunday,  the  family 
may  be  temijted  to  join ;  more  than  that,  the  present  method  of  pretending 
to  close  the  saloons  and  keeping  them  open  tends  to  make  drunkenness, 
because  once  a  man  gets  in  a  saloon  he  is  apt  to  anchor  there.  He  won't 
go  in  simply  to  take  a  drink,  but,  having  found  comfortable  quarters, 
he  settles  down  for  the  whole  day,  and  is  apt  to  come  out  drunken. 

For  a  fourth  reason,  too,  I  advocate  opening  the  saloons  on  Sunday. 
I  believe  such  a  law  would  do  much  to  take  the  saloon  out  of  politics. 
The  present  law  affords  every  opportunity  of  blackmail,  and  any  legis- 
lation which  makes  blackmail  more  diihcult  is  beneficial. 

Since  you  liave  asked  me  to  speak  to  you  here,  before  I  sit  down  you 
will  allow  me  to  say,  with  the  utmost  frankness,  that  I  believe  all  the 
presently  proj^osed  excise  laws  are  quite  madequate.  None  of  them  fully 
faces  the  difliculty.  None  of  them  goes  to  the  root  of  the  matter.  More 
than  that;  in  this  whole  matter  we  are  behindhand — behind  the  rest  of  the 
world.  Those  who  have  studied  this  tremendous  question  of  excise  legis- 
lation are  almost  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the  real  root  of  the 
matter  is  private  profit  in  the  drink  trade.  Sooner  or  later,  it  seems  to 
me,  good  citizens,  whether  they  are  teetotalers  or  moderate  drinkers,  will 
combine  to  take  a  trade  that,  at  least  in  this  country,  must  always  be 
fraught  with  great  danger  to  the  commvmity,  out  of  the  hands  of  private 
citizens  altogether.  Drink  makes  criminals.  Drink  increases  enormously 
the  expenses  of  the  municipality  and  the  State.  And  the  profit  derived 
from  drink,  the  untold  millions  of  profit  made  by  the  brewer,  distiller,  and 
saloon-keeper,  should  not  go  to  them  at  all,  but  should  go  directly  into  the 
treasury  of  the  city  and  the  State.  This  is  unpopular  doctrine  now,  but 
the  time  surely  will  come  when  men  will  see  the  necessity  of  obeying  it, 
and,  let  it  cost  what  it  may,  will  gird  themselves  to  accomplish  even  so 
great  a  task.  We  will  become  Socialists  on  the  question,  I  am  a  Socialist 
on  it,  and  I  admit  it. 

Dr.  Rainsford's  deep  interest  in  the  matter  of  improved  con- 
ditions for  the  working-man  led  him  to  sympathize  most  heartily 
with  the  canse  of  tenement-house  reform.  Under  the  auspices  of 
the  Social  Reform  Club,  a  mass-meeting  was  held  in  Cooper  Union, 
Janaary  30,  1895,  at  which  the  chairman  of  the  Tenement-house 
Committee,  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  delivered  a  carefully  prepared 
address  followed  by  Dr.  Rainsford,  who  said  in  part : 

We  want  to  stand  back  of  the  Tenement-House  Committee.  The  trouble 
is,  we  haven't  trusted  enough  in  each  other.  We  want  trust  based  on  a 
conception  of  what  is  right.  The  reason  why  tenement-house  reform  is 
so  important  is  that  the  burden  of  rent  comes  so  heavily  on  those  who 
are  least  able  to  bear  it.  It  is  unjust  to  lay  the  heaviest  burdens  on  the 
weakest  shoulders.  I  want  to  lift  my  voice  and  plead  for  the  consideration 
by  the  community  at  large  of  the  danger  of  driving  people  to  despair. 
There  is  danger  to  any  society  which  has  within  its  borders  a  large  number 
of  citizens  wlio  are  being  driven  to  despair  by  the  burden  of  poverty.  It 
is  not  much  help  to  a  man  to  give  him  alms.  He  wants  a  chance  to  hold 
up  liis  head  and  earn  his  own  living.  It  costs  as  much  to  keep  one  tiger 
as  ten  horses,  and  we  have  had  too  much  of  the  tiger  lately.     We  want 


338  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

the  support  of  the  public  foi*  the  work  of  the  Tenement-House  Committee. 
The  reforms  suggested  by  the  committee  will  not  avail  without  the  support 
of  public  opinion. 

The  Reform  Advocate  of  April,  1891,  says: 

The  April  number  of  The  Forum  contains  under  the  caption  '  What 
can  we  do  for  the  Poor?'  a  strong  jilea  for  concerted  action  on  the  part 
of  New  York  Churches  to  combat  the  quickened  lapse  into  paupei'ism 
of  the  tenement  population  of  the  eastern  metropolis.  The  pleader.  Dr. 
Rainsford,  evidently  is  not  satisfied  with  the  unsystematic  efforts  of  the 
existing  organizations;  he  is  a  sturdy  defender  of  the  Church's  right  to 
take  upon  itself  the  work,  which  is  now  left  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands 
of  ethical  societies.  Not  all  are  agreed  with  him  in  this.  He  himself  quotes 
a  prominent  divine  who  protests  that  aims  of  this  character  are  not  within 
the  domain  of  the  church.  .  .  . 

The  Inter-Ocean  of  March,  1891,  says  in  the  same  strain : 
.  ,  .  For  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the  part  of  his  indictment  referring 
to  church  organization,  Dr.  Rainsford  quotes  from  a  clergyman,  whom 
most  23eople  will  readily  recognize  as  Dr.  Dix,  of  Trinity  Church,  New 
York,  who  evidently  thinks  that  the  proper  mission  of  Christianity  is  to 
prepare  men  for  a  higher  spiritual  existence  in  the  world  to  come.  He 
says :  '  The  Church  was  not  founded  with  the  direct  view  to  moi'al  culture, 
class  elevation,  etc.  I  have  no  confidence  in  the  judgment  or  wisdom  of 
those  who  tell  us  that  the  Church  must  try  to  reach  the  masses,  purify 
polities,  and  elevate  the  laboring  classes.'  Dr.  Rainsford,  on  the  contrary, 
dwells  exclusively  upon  the  Churchly  and  Christian  side  of  the  social 
problem  and  thinks  that  the  betterment  of  the  masses  can  only  be  effected 
by  leavening  their  minds  with  the  spii'it  of  true  religion.  Imbued  with  this 
feeling  and  doubtless  wedded  to  it  also,  he  states  that  the  duty  '  belongs 
not  to  ethical  societies  but  to  the  Christian  church,'  and  he  advocates  a 
union  of  the  various  denominations  with  the  view  of  encouraging  a  com- 
pleteness of  effort  and  harmonv  of  action  in  rejDressing  the  common  enemy 
of  all. 

The  rector  was  requested  by  the  vestry  April  2,  1894,  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  congregation  to  the  fact  of  a  deficiency  of  $5,600 
in  the  current  revenue  and  to  appoint  a  special  collection  to  meet 
it  on  the  following  Sunday. 

To  prevent  undue  crowding  of  the  building  at  public  services,  the 
wardens  were  instructed  to  cause  the  church  gates  to  be  closed, 
when  in  their  judgment  it  should  become  at  any  time  advisable,  and 
the  property  committee  was  directed  to  cause  these  gates  to  open 
outwardly. 

Repairs  to  the  towers  of  the  church  were  authorized  at  a  cost 
not  to  exceed  $1,500. 

A  copy  of  the  elegant  special  edition  of  the  Standard  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  of  1892  was  presented  to  the  Church  by  Mr.  J.  P. 
Morgan  and  accepted  with  the  thanks  of  the  vestry.     It  may  be 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  339 

fitly  mentioned  that  the  Church  at  large  is  indebted  to  the  same 
generous  giver  for  the  cost  of  this  entire  edition. 

The  sexton  of  the  church,  Richard  Hanlon,  who  had  held  that 
position  for  eight  years,  died  July  10,  1894.  This  was  the  rector's 
tribute  to  him: 

Mr.  Hanlon  was  not  simply  an  efficient  official,  he  was  a  warm-hearted 
and  generous  friend,  and  bis  strong,  manly  personality  was  an  influence 
always  making  for  good  among  that  great  band  of  young  people  tbat 
daily  flocked  in  and  oat  of  the  parisb  bouse  of  wbicb  he  had  charge.  A 
good  man  and  a  true,  faithful  in  the  discbarge  of  bis  office,  and  wonder- 
fully patient  toward  all  men — we  miss  him  greatly. 

Under  the  will  of  Elizabeth  R.  Henderson,  St.  George's  Church 
received  in  the  settlement  of  her  estate  $32,397  for  the  Endowment 
Fund  of  the  Church,  for  the  Deaconess  Fund  $3,239.70,  and  $3,239.70 
for  the  Woman's  Auxiliary,  the  income  thereof  to  be  applied  to 
Foreign  Missions. 

At  the  meeting  at  which  it  was  reported  that  these  sums  had  been 
paid  to  the  treasurer,  March  11,  1895,  plans  were  considered  for 
erecting  on  the  Third  Avenue  property,  held  as  part  of  the  endow- 
ment, a  modern  apartment-house  to  replace  the  three  small  build- 
ings then  upon  it.  The  property  committee  at  the  next  meeting  was 
directed  to  let  contracts  for  the  proposed  construction,  which  con- 
tracts called  for  an  expenditure  of  $34,377.04.  The  building  was 
commenced  May  1,  1895,  and  completed  in  February  of  the  follow- 
ing year  at  an  actual  cost  of  $41,516.77. 

The  total  of  the  endowment  fund  of  the  Church  as  it  stood  March 
31,  1895,  was  $316,043;  of  the  deaconess  house  $4,457.90;  the  net 
income  of  the  Church  endowment,  after  deducting  charges  against 
real  estate,  being  $12,081.92. 

A  beloved  and  honored  member  of  the  vestry,  Mr.  William  H. 
Schieffelin,  departed  this  life  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age  iu 
June,  1895,  and  the  vestry  placed  on  its  records  the  .following 
minute : 

In  the  winter  of  1883  Mr.  Schieffelin  became  interested  in  St.  George's 
Church  and  was  elected  to  its  vestry,  to  which  body  he  has  been  re-elected 
annually  till  the  year  of  his  death.  From  his  first  connection  with  the 
parish  he  brought  to  its  sei-vice  an  enthusiastic  whole-heartness  which 
was  of  untold  value  in  developing  its  resuscitated  life.  At  the  request 
of  the  rector,  Mr.  Schieffelin  undertook  perhaps  as  difficult  and  certainly 
as  thankless  a  task  as  could  fall  to  the  lot  of  any,  namely,  the  seating 
of  the  congregations  under  the  untried  free-pew  system.  With  patience, 
gentleness,  unflagging  attention,  and  Christian  tact  he  dischai'ged  his  duty, 
Sunday  by  Sunday,  year  by  year,  till  quite  recently  failing  in  health  made 
it  impossible  to  do  so  any  longer. 


340  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Important  as  was  this  undertaking,  lie  served  St.  George's  in  other 
ways.  Though  his  healtli  was  j^recarious  and  he  suffered  constantly,  he 
visited  weekly  the  various  parish  activities.  He  made  time  to  mix  with 
the  young  people,  and  personally  to  know  scores  of  the  poorer  members 
of  the  Church.  His  outstretched  hand  and  welcoming  smile  will  be  sadly 
missed  by  these.  Rector,  wardens,  and  vestrymen,  we  honor  his  memory 
and  mourn  his  loss. 

The  programme  of  the  convention  of  St.  Andrew's  Brotherhood 
in  1895  included  an  address  on  Christian  Unity  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Charles  A.  Briggs,  a  professor  in  Union  Theological  Seminary,  at 
that  time  a  Presbyterian  minister  and  not  as  now  a  respected 
presbyter  of  our  own  Church.  Objections  to  his  appearance  on 
that  platform  on  the  ground  of  theological  views,  held  by  or  at- 
tributed to  him,  being  urged  upon  the  attention  of  the  Council  of 
the  Brotherhood,  one  critic  going  so  far  as  to  write :  ' '  Dr.  Briggs 
is  not  a  fitting  person  to  address  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew 
upon  any  question  whatever,"  the  Council  withdrew  the  topic  from 
the  programme.  This  action  called  forth  the  following  vigorous 
and  manly  protest  from  Dr.  Rainsford  and  the  St.  George 's  Chapter 
of  the  Brotherhood: 

To  the  Editor  of  '  The  Churchman' : 

Will  you  kindly  allow  me  sj^ace  in  The  Churchman  to  add  my  pro- 
test to  that  already  entered  by  Dr.  Van  De  Water  against  the  action  of 
the  Council  of  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew  in  withdrawing  from  the 
Louisville  programme  the  topic  of  '  Church  Unity '  ? 

Once  the  subject  had  been  decided  on  and  printed,  once  Dr.  Briggs  had 
been  asked  to  speak,  the  Brotherhood  was,  in  my  judgment,  bound  to 
stick  to  its  guns.  If  a  body  as  widely  representative  as  the  Brotherhood 
of  St.  Andrew  has  been  and  should  be  is  to  trim  its  sails  at  the  bidding 
of  evei^yf  chance  protest  or  protestor,  then,  indeed,  shall  that  body  have 
abandoned  the  broad  and  eomi^rehensive  platform  on  which  they  have 
wrought  such  good  work.  The  Brotherhood  should  be  as  wide  as  our 
Church.  The  teachings  of  Dr.  Briggs  are  not  contrary  to  the  teachings 
of  the  historic  Church.  His  critical  conclusions  are  only  those  arrived 
at  by  men  of  unquestioned  orthodoxy  and  undoubted  learning  in  the 
Catholic  Church.  By  a  veiy  large  number  of  the  ablest  clergy  in  his  own 
communion  he  is  sustained. 

Surely  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew,  having  asked  such  a  man  to 
address  its  convention,  was  guilty  of  something  worse  than  a  blunder 
in  withdrawing  that  invitation. 

I  could  not  have  believed  the  council  capable  of  such  a  step.  No  doubt 
they  have  taken  it,  feeling  deeply  the  responsibility  resting  on  them  to 
promote,  so  far  as  they  may,  the  actual  unity  of  the  Church;  but  unity 
will  never  be  won  by  narrowing  the  platform  on  which  they  who  hail 
Jesus  Chiist  as  Lord  are  to  stand. 

I  as  well  as  the  officers  and  members  of  St.   George's  chapter  of  the 


THE     RAINSFORD    PERIOD  341 

Brotherhood  must  beg  to  enter  our  protest  against  this  action  of  the 
General  Council.  We  cannot  believe  that  the  Brotherhood  is  unitedly  in 
favor  of  this  step,  which  it  seems  to  us  was  a  step  backward;  and  to 
emphasize  our  protest,  no  deputation  from  St.  George's  will  this  year 
attend  the  convention  at  Louisville. 

W.  S.  Rainspoed. 
St.  George's  Rectory,  Sept.  IStli,  1695. 

The  Legislature  of  the  State  in  1895  enacted  a  new  law  affecting 
corporations  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  making  it  per- 
missible for  an  existing  corporation  to  adopt,  if  it  chose,  specified 
provisions  of  the  new  law.  Acting  under  this  statutory  permission, 
the  vestry  in  November  of  that  year  adopted  these  recommendations, 
to  be  presented  for  action  thereon  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
corporation  in  the  following  spring: 

First. — That  the  date  of  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Corporation  of  St. 
George's  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York  be  changed  to  Tuesday  in  the 
week  beginning  Avith  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent  of  each  year. 

Second. — That  the  number  of  Vestrymen  be  changed  to  nine. 

Third. — That  the  manner  of  electing  Churchwardens  and  Vestrymen, 
and  the  terms  of  ofifiee  of  Churchwardens  and  Vestiymen  shall  be  changed 
as  provided  for  in  Section  35  of  Chapter  No.  723  of  the  Laws  of  the 
State  of  New  York  for  the  year  1895,  so  that  at  the  next  annual  election 
one  Churchwarden  shall  be  elected  to  hold  office  for  one  year,  and  one  to 
hold  office  for  two  years;  and  one-third  of  the  number  of  vestrymen  de- 
termined on  shall  be  elected  to  hold  office  for  three  years,  one-thu'd  thereof 
to  hold  office  for  two  years,  and  one-third  thereof  to  hold  office  for  one 
year;  and,  thereafter,  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Parish,  there  shall 
be  elected  one-third  of  the  number  of  Vestrymen  determined  on  and  one 
Churchwarden. 

Fourth. — That  the  qualifications  of  voters  and  the  qualifications  of 
Churchwardens  and  Vestrymen  be  changed  to  the  requirements  of  Section 
30  of  Chapter  723  of  the  Laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  for  the  year 
1895,  viz. :  That  the  qualifications  of  voters  at  any  meeting  of  the  Cor- 
poration be  changed  so  that  men  of  full  age  who  have  been  regular  at- 
tendants at  the  worship  of  the  congi-egation  or  parish  of  St.  George's 
Church,  and  contributors  to  the  support  thereof,  for  one  year  prior  to  such 
meetmg,  shali  be  qualified ;  and  that  the  qualifications  for  Churchwardens 
and  Vesti'ynien  shall  be  changed  so  that  no  person  shall  be  eligible  for 
election  as  Churchwarden  unless  he  be  a  qualified  voter  as  aforesaid  and  a 
communicant  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Chmch;  and  that  no  person  shall 
be  eligible  for  election  as  Vestryman  unless  he  shall  be  a  duly  qualified 
voter  as  aforesaid  and  shall  have  been  baptized. 

At  the  annual  meeting  which  was  held  on  Tuesday  in  Easter  week, 
March  7,  1896,  the  recommendations  of  the  vestry  were  unanimously 
adopted  and  the  required  legal  certificate  of  such  action  thereupon 
signed.    The  vestry  elected  at  this  meeting  therefore  held  office  only 


342  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

until  the  following  December  1st,  at  which  date  J.  Pierpont  Morgan 
was  elected  warden  for  the  two-year  terra  and  J.  Noble  Stearns  for 
one  year.  The  vestrymen  elected  for  the  three-year  term  were  R. 
Fulton  Cutting,  William  Foulke,  and  W.  Jay  Schieffelin;  for  the 
two-year  term  Frederic  H.  Betts,  Seth  Low,  and  H,  H.  Pike;  for 
the  one-year  term  Wager  Swayne,  Henry  W.  Munroe,  and  John 
Seely  Ward,  Jr. 

Mr.  Charles  Edward  Tracy,  a  Vestryman  from  1885  to  1896,  died 
at  Colorado  Springs  on  the  22d  day  of  January,  1896.  In  recog- 
nition of  Mr.  Tracy's  connection  with  the  Church  and  his  services 
thereto,  the  vestry  directed  the  entry  of  the  following  minute  upon 
their  records: 

Mr.  Tracy  became  a  member  of  the  vestry  on  the  decease  of  his  eminent 
father,  Charles  Tracy,  who  for  a  long  term  of  years  had  been  a  vestry- 
man, and  subsequently  senior  warden.  Coming  as  he  did,  to  office  under 
such  circumstances,  he  brought  to  the  fulfilment  of  its  duties  an  inherited 
affection  for  the  Church,  and  immediately  evinced  a  warm  personal  interest 
in  its  welfare  and  a  spirit  of  conscientious  devotion  to  its  claims  upon 
his  time  and  talents.  For  several  years  he  took  charge  of  one  of  the 
most  laborious  and  important  departments  of  the  church  work — the  system 
of  envelope  collections,  with  its  attendant  records,  and  cheerfully  met  the 
large  demand  for  time,  patience,  and  energy  required  for  its  successful 
management.  In  many  important  matters  he  was  the  legal  adviser  of  the 
Church  and  his  wise  counsels  and  cordial  co-operation  in  times  of  difficulty 
will  ever  be  remembered  and  appreciated  by  his  associates.  His  character 
and  conduct  commands  our  affectionate  regard,  and  this  minute  records 
our  sense  of  loss  by  his  death. 

The  Avenue  A  Mission,  after  a  most  useful  life  of  thirteen  years, 
had  to  be  given  up  through  lack  of  funds.  The  rector  wrote  in 
1896: 

It  cost  twenty-six  hundred  dollars  a  year  to  keep  it  up.  We  could  not 
raise  the  money;  it  had  therefore  to  be  abandoned.  The  children  we  will 
ti'v  and  secure  in  the  upper  school.  Many  of  the  poor  peoi:)le  will  wor- 
ship in  the  beautiful  place  which  Grace  Church  has  erected  three  blocks 
away;  and,  as  far  as  we  can,  we  will  assist  the  Grace  Church  clergy  with 
the  names  of  these.  Never  has  the  Sunday-school  been  in  so  flourishing 
a  condition,  never  has  the  Helping  Hand  been  able  to  j^resent  so  good  a 
report,  never  has  the  Sunday-night  service  been  better  attended  or  given 
more  unmistakable  proofs  of  usefulness.  The  closing  of  the  Mission, 
owing  to  lack  of  funds,  will  mean  the  loss,  felt  keenly  by  a  large  number 
of  our  East  Side  people,  of  the  Sunday-evening  service.  The  organizations 
mentioned  above,  including  the  kindergarten,  wliich  has  met  daily  in  the 
Mission  rooms,  will  be  transferred  to  the  Memorial  Building.  Also  there 
will  be  held  on  Wednesday  evenings  in  the  churcli,  a  service  modeled  on 
the  week-night  services  held  at  the  Mission  by  the  St.  Andrew's  Brother- 
hood. 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  343 

This  service,  transplanted  to  the  Church,  was  short,  bright,  inter- 
esting, and  devotional.  It  took  the  place  of  the  old  Bible  Class 
which  had  met  on  that  evening  and  was  so  well  attended  as  to  give 
promise  of  continuance  as  a  permanent  institution. 

The  effort  to  increase  the  Church  endowment  had  proved  so 
successful  that  during  the  five  years  ending  March  31,  1896, 
$162,948.02  had  been  received,  and  the  endowment  at  that  date 
stood  at  the  handsome  figure  of  $348,231.27,  of  which  the  income 
lor  the  year  had  been  $13,325.28.  There  was  also  a  Deaconess  House 
endowment  of  $4,647.90,  and  a  Foreign  Mission  endowment  of  the 
St.  George's  Branch  Woman's  Auxiliary  amounting  to  $3,239.70. 

During  the  summer  of  this  year,  the  parochial  statistics  were 
carefully  compiled  with  the  following  result : 

Number  of  persons  on  our  books  not  returned  as  baptized,  though  prob- 
ably baptized  in  other  Christian  bodies,  1,435;  number  of  baptized  persons 
on  our  books,  1,572;  number  of  communicants  on  our  books,  3,683. — Total 
number  of  individuals  (males,  .3,337;  females,  3,353)   6,690. 

Of  these  there  were  reported  as  living  in  tenement-houses  4,484;  in 
boarding-houses,  791;  in  flats,  apartments,  and  hotels,  744;  in  private 
houses,  487;  out  of  town,  107;  unclassified,  77. — Total,  6,690. 

Those  connected  with  the  various  departments  of  St.  George's  work  were 
classified  as  follows :  Sunday-school,  2,194 ;  former  members  of  Avenue 
A  School  now  transferred  to  St.  George's,  280;  Chinese  Sunday-school 
(not  including  24  teachers),  40;  Sewing-school,  286;  Girls'  Friendly  So- 
cietv,  543;  King's  Daughters,  502;  Battalion,  230;  Men's  Club,  398; 
Athletic  Club,  136;  Evening  Trade  School  for  Boys,  266;  Choir,  75; 
Brotherhood,  63;  Woman's  Missionary  Association,  75;  District  Visitors, 
44;  Guild  and  Employment  Society  (committee)  25,  (women  employed 
yearly)  40;  Helping  Hand  (committee)  24,  (women)  126;  Mothers'  Meeting, 
219;  library  (free)  used  by  450;  number  of  books  to  select  from,  4,000; 
Seaside  Work- — guests  for  a  week,  551;  excursionists  for  a  day,  11,178. 

Most  of  these  departments  are  supported  by  our  two  parish  mission 
collections,  second  Sundays  in  March  and  November.  The  annual  amount 
needed  is  about  $14,000. 

In  the  fall  of  1896,  several  letters  addressed  to  the  Board  of 
Health  of  the  city  objected  to  the  "  tolling  of  the  beUs  of  St. 
George's."  This  occasioned  letters  from  the  neighbors  to  the  rector 
begging  that  the  ringing  might  not  be  discontinued.  The  follow- 
ing appeared  in  the  columns  of  The  Sun: 

To  the  Editor  of  'The  Sim': 

Sir  :  As  there  is  much  complaint  against  what  are  called  the  '  bells  * 
of  St.  George's  Church,  Stuyvesant  Square,  will  you  kindly  print  the 
sentiments  of  a  property  owner,  who  lives  not  only  within  the  sound  of 


344  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

the  bell  (for  there  is  only  one),  but  of  the  organ  of  St.  George's.  Those 
wlio  know  me  know  that  I  am  a  particularly  fidgety  old  fellow,  so  that 
if  I  can  stand  a  thing  any  one  ought  to  stand  it.  At  night,  if  I  lie  awake, 
that  mellow  bell  tells  me  the  hour,  but  never  disturbs  me;  and  on  Sunday 
morning,  if  I  lie  abed  to  read  the  book  reviews  in  the  Sunday  Sun,  there 
is  nothing  so  soothing  to  me  as  the  tone  of  the  bell  wliieh  calls  other  folks 
to  church.  Indeed,  if  this  agitation  should  succeed  in  silencing  the  bell 
of  St.  George's,  I  think  I  must  apply  to  the  courts  for  a  madamus  to 
have  it  ring  on. 

Civilized  people  throughout  Christendom  accepts  the  sound  of  church 
bells  not  as  noise  but  as  music,  and  there  is  no  other  common  tiling  more 
fraught  with  poetry  and  sentiment;  things  for  which  we  would  be  better 
if  we  had  more.  When  the  poet  Cowper  wished  to  describe  the  savage 
desolation  of  Alexander  Selkirk,  cast  away  on  a  desert  island,  he  wrote: 

'  The   sound   of  the   church  going  bell 
These  valleys  and  rocks  never  heard. 
Never  sighed  at  the  sound  of  a  knell, 
Or  smiled  when  the  Sabbath  appeared.' 

Frederick  Keppel. 
SUiyvesant  Sqxiare,  Dec.  6th. 

The  rector  called  a  meeting  on  March  29,  1897,  of  all  those  actively- 
engaged  in  the  parochial  organizations,  at  which  350  w^ere  present. 
Three  minute  reports  were  read  by  the  heads  of  each  organization. 
The  object  of  the  meeting,  which  it  was  intended  to  make  annual, 
was  to  afford  to  those  engaged  in  each  department  some  knowledge 
of  what  was  being  done  in  others,  thus  to  secure  that  better  under- 
standing of  and  sympathy  with  each  other's  work  which  would 
secure  more  satisfactory  and  permanent  results.  Another  means  of 
unifying  the  interests  of  all  had  been  devised  in  a  new  system  of 
finance  by  which  the  treasurer  of  the  Church  had  been  made  banker 
lor  the  treasurers  of  all  the  various  parochial  societies.  These  made 
deposits  with  the  treasurer  of  the  Church  and  drew  by  check,  upon 
occasion,  against  their  several  accounts.  This  plan  resulted  in  a 
fuller  general  treasury  and  a  more  systematic  keeping  of  society 
accounts. 

In  the  political  campaign  of  1897,  the  rector  of  St.  George's  and 
its  leading  parishioners  were  enlisted  in  the  Citizens'  Union  for  the 
purification  of  municipal  politics.  Seven  years  before,  the  rector 
had  felt  it  to  be  his  privilege  and  duty  to  enlist  the  interest  of  the 
young  men  of  the  congregation  in  the  promotion  of  this  end  and 
addressed  a  letter  to  them  in  which  he  said : 

Dear  Fellow  Workers:  We  have  banded  ourselves  together  in  prayer, 
to  help,  wherever  we  see  it,  the  good,  and  oppose  the  evil.  It  seems  to  me, 
that,  though  we  may  differ  widely  on  many  political  questions,  we  would 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  345 

do  well  to  remember  that  the  government  of  our  great  city  is  really  not  a 
question  of  politics,  but  of  business;  not  whether  we  shall  help  forward  a 
Democratic  or  Republican  party,  but  whether  we  shall,  or  shall  not,  have 
bonestj-,  purity,  good  government,  and  respect  for  law,  in  our  midst. 

Under  political  rule  our  city's  government  has  become  a  disgrace.  The 
political  organization  that  has  controlled  it,  and  threatens  to  continue  that 
control,  is  manifestly  corrui)t.  Let  us  do  what  we  can  to  support  the 
movement  instituted  by  wise  men  and  honest.  Let  us  collectively  and 
individually  do  what  we  can  to  induce  all  our  friends  to  vote  for  the 
candidates  put  forward  by  the  People's  Municipal  Leagaie.  Let  us  make 
a  beginning  now  by  seeing  that  they  register. 

In  the  spring  of  1897,  the  prospect  was  encouraging  for  the  suc- 
cess of  the  principles  and  candidates  of  the  Citizens'  Union.  In 
one  of  the  daily  papers  appeared  the  statement:  "  Dr.  Rainsford's 
declaration  in  favor  of  the  Citizens'  Union  will  give  great  strength 
to  the  movement.  He  is  popular  among  the  wage-workers,  and  they 
have  confidence  in  him.  His  advice  to  them  will  be  worth  more  than 
would  be  the  work  of  dozens  of  ward  politicians."  A  number  of 
the  vestry  of  St.  George's  were  important  factors  in  this  municipal 
campaign.  Seth  Low  the  candidate  for  Mayor,  R.  Fulton  Cutting 
chairman  of  the  Citizens'  Union,  William  Jay  Schieffelin  member 
of  its  executive  committee,  Frederic  H.  Betts  and  J.  Pierpont 
Morgan,  members  of  the  organization  committee.  Besides  these 
members  of  the  vestry  other  prominent  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion were  lending  their  names  and  interest  to  the  movement,  among 
whom  were  General  Wager  Swayne,  Dr.  Nicholas  Murray  Butler, 
James  B.  Reynolds,  and  William  Potts.  Dr.  Rainsford  himself  said : 
*  *  I  think  it  is  reasonable  to  be  confident  that  the  independent  move- 
ment will  win.  I  have  faith  in  the  good  sense  of  a  majority  of  the 
people.  I  think  they  realize  that  it  is  time  to  abandon  partisanship 
m  municipal  affairs.  In  any  event,  if  we  do  not  win  this  year,  we 
will  in  years  to  come,  and  I  want  to  be  one  of  those  to  help  start 
the  movement  promising  so  much  for  New  York's  future  govern- 
ment." His  prediction  was  realized  and  the  independent  movement 
won. 

A  unique  and  significant  occasion  was  the  reunion  of  the  clergy 
who  had  served  St.  George's  as  assistants  under  Dr.  Rainsford.  Out 
of  the  twenty-two  who  had  been  members  of  the  staff  during  the 
fifteen  years  nineteen  were  present  at  the  dinner  in  the  Memorial 
House  on  Wednesday,  January  26,  1898.  Dr.  Lindsay  Parker  pre- 
sided, and  each  man  gave  expression  to  his  esteem  for  Dr.  Rainsford 
as  he  testified  what  his  service  in  St.  George's  had  meant  to  him 
and  what  he  had  gained  from  association  with  its  rector.    A  loving- 


346  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

cup  was  presented  to  Dr.  Rainsford,  with  the  following  inscription 
and  the  twenty-two  names  of  the  assistants  engraved  upon  it : 

William  S.  Rainsford,  D.D., 

Rector  of  St.  George's  C'hureh,  New  York, 

January  First,  1883. 

This  oup  is  a  token  of  the  affection  and  high  regard  of  those  who  have 

laboured  under  him  and  have  been  inspired  by  him  during  the  past  fifteen 

years,  given  at  a  reunion  of  his  assistants  held  on  January  26th,  1898. 

The  parish  of  Trinity  Church  celebrated  its  bicentennial  anni- 
versary in  May,  1898,  with  an  octave  of  services.  The  rector  of 
St.  George's  was  among  those  invited  to  speak  and  his  address  was 
delivered  at  the  noonday  service  on  Tuesday,  May  4th.  He  spoke 
as  the  "  rector  of  Trinity's  eldest  child,"  and,  after  giving  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  early  history  of  St.  George 's,  he  said : 

The  unique  position  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  to-day,  in  our  metropolitan 
city,  is  due  to  Trinity  Church,  due  to  the  wise  policy,  first,  of  those  en- 
dowing her;  and,  second,  of  those  who  wisely  conserved  that  endowment. 
There  are  many,  I  know,  to-day,  found  willing  to  eark  at  and  condemn 
the  accumulation  of  such  large  property  as  that  which  Trinity  Church 
possesses  within  the  control  of  one  corporation.  There  is  a  heedless,  im- 
thinking  jealousy  often  abroad,  which  if  it  could  have  its  way,  would 
break  up  and  divide  those  resources  which  have  enabled  our  mother  church 
to  do  as  she  has  done.  I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  the 
centralization  of  endowment  in  Trinity  Church  has  been,  under  the  blessing 
of  God,  good  for  the  Church  of  C'hrist  in  this  city  and  state  at  large. 

Let  me  point  out  further  another  advantage  which  has  been  gained  for 
the  community  by  the  bulk  of  the  church's  endowment  remaining  with  the 
mother  church.  This,  and  nothing  less  than  this,  call  it  the  centralization 
of  ecclesiastical  wealth,  if  you  like,  has  checked  what  all  thoughtful  men 
must  a.gree  in  believing  to  be  the  fatal  up-town  movement  of  the  churches. 
Can  any  one,  looking  over  the  needs  of  this  great  city  of  ours,  be  for  one 
moment  in  doubt  where  the  gi-eatest,  where  the  most  difficult,  task  of  the 
Church  lies?  Our  great  parish  churches,  our  beautiful  buildings,  our  most 
stately  services,  must  be  given  to  those  who  need  them  most.  It  is  the 
poor,  the  spiritually  neglected,  who  have  the  first  claim  on  them,  if  we 
hold  ourselves  to  be  trustees  for  Jesus  Christ.  Here  at  the  head  of  Wall 
Street  you  have  spent — where,  God  grant  you  may  continue  to  spend — 
your  chief  energies.  Here  and  in  the  great  district  lying  south  of  the 
20th  streets,  suitable  churches  cannot  be  maintained,  if  their  maintenance 
entirely  depends  on  the  almsgiving  of  those  who  attend  their  sendees. 
Large  endowments  must  be  at  hand  to  supplement  those  gifts,  however 
willingly,  however  generously,  we  may  always  expect  they  may  be  given. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  who  cannot  pay  for  decent  sleeping  ac- 
commodations, certainly  cannot  be  expected  to  j)ay  those  large  sums,  which, 
in  our  crowded  city,  are  necessary  to  maintain  the  spacious  house  of  God 
with  its  beauty  of  worship.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  bound  in, 
bound  down  by  an  environment  sordid  and  debasing — it  is  these  that  need 
a  eliureh  worship,  large,  beautiful,  statelv,  using  wisely   all  the  gTacious 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  347 

accessories  of  life,  which  their  straitened  means  deny  to  them.  The  great 
churches  of  the  future  should  rise  among  the  needy  and  the  toiling  people. 
The  strong  forces  of  God  should  be  placed  where  all  evil  things  abound. 
The  best  preaching,  the  most  beautiful  services,  the  most  inspiring  music 
— let  them  rise,  let  them  sound,  let  them  be  seen  where  life  is  most  weary 
and  overpressed. 

In  the  fifteen  years  in  which  it  has  been  my  fortunate  lot  to  live  in 
this  city  and  minister  to  some  of  its  people,  I  have  seen  over  110,000 
people  move  into  the  town  below  Fourteenth  Street,  and  I  have  seen 
nineteen  Protestant  churches  move  out.  I  carmot  conceive  of  any  change 
in,  any  abatement  of,  this  movement;  a  movement,  which  I  beg  to  think 
all  thoughtful  Christian  men  can  agi'ee  in  denouncing  as  the  ignorant,  mi- 
christian  and  fatal  retreat  of  the  churches  from  the  poor,  the  leaving  of 
the  poor  to  follow  the  well-to-do.  It  is  a  sin  against  the  community,  it 
is  a  danger,  it  is  a  foUy  as  well  as  a  weakness.  Of  that,  one  day,  I  am 
very  sure  that  all  will  be  convinced.  But  what  is  to  be  done  meanwhile? 
How  shall  we  arrange  our  forces  till  that  better  day  dawn,  when  the 
Cliristian  intelligence  of  the  community  will  be  so  aroused  that  wise  and 
godly  men  will  so  arrange  the  Church's  forces,  that  the  strongest  regiments 
and  the  best  equipped  organizations  shall  be  set  to  attempt  the  most  dif- 
ficult tasks— till  that  day  dawn,  I  say,  what  shall  we  do?  Anchor  fast 
the  churches  that  we  have  got  where  they  are,  and  be  profoundly  thankful 
that  a  wise  and  far-seeing  policj^  put  it  within  the  means  of  this  ancient 
church  to  make  all  the  lower  part  of  the  city  of  New  York,  from  which 
the  other  Protestant  bodies  are  retreating  as  fast  as  they  can,  her  own 
peculiar  parish. 

Yet  for  one  moment  further  let  me  press  this  point  on  you.  Already 
men  see  that  the  beautiful  buildings,  the  ample  spaces,  the  gi'acious  sug- 
gestions of  art,  are  not  only  not  thrown  away,  but  are  also  needful  to  the 
building  and  rounding  out  of  the  life  of  the  crowded  poor.  Is  it  too  much, 
I  say,  to  ask  that  those  who  agree  to  these  truisms,  as  we  call  them,  may 
be  brought  to  acknowledge  that  the  large,  well-organized  and  thoroughly 
equijjped  church  can  supply  for  these  populations  one  of  the  sorest  needs 
which  man's  many-sided  nature  thirsts  for?  At  present,  too  often,  we  put 
the  single  clergyman,  the  weak  church,  the  totally  insufficient  organization, 
to  deal  with  the  almost  impenetrable  masses  of  ignorance,  unbelief  and 
vice.  We  oppose  the  battle  line  where  it  is  tliinnest  to  the  heavy  columns 
of  the  enemy.  We  are  without  a  policy;  we  are  isolated  regiments  of 
good  men;  we  are  CongTegationalists  in  practice,  if  Episcopalians  in 
theory.  And  so,  pending  the  time  of  larger  intelligence,  sensitive  conscience 
and  more  real  self-denial,  I  rejoice  ^^ath  all  my  heart  in  the  great  centralized 
power  that  for  two  hundred  years  Trinity,  on  the  whole,  has  used  so  wisely. 

In  view  of  the  Spanish- American  War,  the  rector  in  May,  1898, 
submitted  to  the  vestry  the  question  of  his  applying  for  a  com- 
mission as  chaplain  in  the  army.  Discussion  of  the  question  made 
it  quite  evident,  without  formal  action,  that  while  the  vestry  might 
acquiesce,  if  the  rector  felt  this  was  a  call  of  duty,  still  they  were 
unanimously  of  opinion  that  the  obligations  resting  on  him  in  con- 
nection with  the  interests  of  St.  George's  parish  were  at  the  present 


348  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

time  too  great  to  justify  his  leaving  them,  especially  as  the  new 
obligation  proposed  to  be  incurred  was  one  from  which  he  might 
not  be  released  for  an  indefinite  period  or  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
St.  George's  Church,  however,  was  well  represented,  as  about  one 
hundred  of  its  men  enlisted,  of  whom  some  saw  service  in  Cuba  and 
the  Philippines  in  both  the  regular  army  and  as  volunteers.  None 
were  killed,  but  there  was  among  them  a  good  deal  of  sickness  and 
two  died  of  fever. 

During  the  summer  of  1899,  the  entire  Church  property  was  put 
in  good  repair,  including  the  improvements  in  the  memorial  house, 
at  an  expense  of  $29,360.65,  which  was  more  than  covered  by  the 
Easter  collection  made  for  that  purpose.  The  work  was  done  under 
the  efficient  supervision  of  Mr.  William  Foulke  of  the  property 
committee,  to  whom  the  vestry  voted  their  "  appreciation  of  his 
valuable  and  laborious  services, ' '  while  expressing  their  gratification 
at  the  successful  completion  of  the  work. 

A  profitable  house-to-house  visitation  of  certain  blocks  east  of 
First  Avenue,  between  Fourteenth  and  Nineteenth  streets,  was  un- 
dertaken at  this  season.  The  whole  clerical  staff  was  relieved  for 
a  fortnight  from  all  other  work  and  made  over  2,200  visits.  They 
were  not  the  usual  hurried  visits  made  by  census-takers,  but  visits 
often  prolonged  until  the  desired  information  was  forthcoming.  It 
is  an  interesting  fact  that  not  more  than  sixty  families  in  all  that 
district  disclaimed  affiliation  with  some  church.  As  a  result  of  the 
visitation,  a  considerable  number  who  had  been  careless  in  their 
church  relations  were  induced  to  do  better  and  many  young  people 
were  introduced  into  the  various  organizations  of  St.  George's 
Church  and  into  the  Sunday-school. 

During  this  winter  a  course  of  six  lectures  by  selected  speakers, 
specially  addressed  to  working-men,  was  held  in  the  Church  under 
the  auspices  of  Bishop  Potter  and  other  well-known  friends  of  the 
working-man.  The  body  of  the  Church  was  reserved  for  them,  the 
galleries  being  thrown  open  to  the  congregation.  The  list  of  speakers 
and  their  topics  was  as  follows : 

January  23d,  Professor  George  D.  Herron,  formerly  of  Iowa  College, 
'Economic  Basis  of  Self-Government';  February  15th,  Rev.  Washington 
Gladden,  Columbus,  Ohio,  '  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Labor  Movements 
To-day  ' ;  March  8th,  Rev.  Lyman  Abbott,  '  The  Democracy  of  Industry  ' ; 
Marcli  22d,  Rev.  S.  C.  Swallow,  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  '  Slave,  Serf, 
and  Wage- Earner ';  April  5th,  Hon.  William  Dudley  Foulke,  Richmond, 
Indiana,  '  The  Relation  of  Trusts  to  Labor  Organizations ' ;  April  26th, 
Professor  James  H.  Canfield,  Columbia  University,  '  The  Labor  Man's 
Social  Progress.' 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  349 

This  course  of  lectures  originated  in  Dr.  Rains  ford's  desire  to 
give  to  the  working-men  of  this  city  the  views  and  suggestions  of 
men  whose  broad  sympathies  toward  working-men  were  well  known 
and  whose  lives  inspire  confidence  in  the  value  of  their  thoughts 
upon  the  present  condition  of  labor  and  capital.  It  was  an  indi- 
cation of  his  profound  interest  in  whatever  concerned  the  welfare 
of  the  working-man.  He  believed  in  trade  unions  and  contended 
that  the  labor  leaders  were  ' '  not  bad  fellows  nine  times  out  of  ten. ' ' 
At  an  address  delivered  before  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  En- 
gineers he  said  in  part: 

The  time  has  eome  when  all  labor  organizations  should  do  something  to 
make  the  whole  country  feel  that  they  are  not  working  simply  for  their 
own  personal  advantage,  but  that  they  realize  other  responsibilities.  The 
main  difificulty  in  the  way  of  the  steady  progress  of  trades-unions  comes 
from  themselves.  Instead  of  unity,  they  spend  half  their  time  in  pulling 
each  other  down.  That  is  sheer  madness.  We  are  just  beginning  to  learn 
one  truth,  and  that  is  if  one  suffers  all  suffer.  The  only  way  we  are  going 
to  win  is  by  a  larger  conception  of  those  who  are  successful  of  their 
obligations  to  the  weaker.  We  are  inclined  to  think  that  there  is  little  to 
be  done  for  the  lower  strata.  The  successful  unions  are  so  blind  to  their 
own  interests  that  they  neglect  to  use  part  of  their  strength  to  aid  the 
weaker  unions. 

His  championship  of  working-men  was  grateful  to  them,  and  the 
Central  Labor  Union  thus  voiced  its  commendation  of  his  views : 

Resolved,  That  the  Central  Labor  Union  of  the  city  of  New  York,  in  the 
name  of  organized  labor,  does  hereby  most  sincerely  and  earnestly  offer  its 
thanks  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rainsford,  of  this  city,  for  the  recent  advanced 
ideas  on  labor  organizations  which  he  so  fearlessly  and  sincerely  advocates. 

Besolved,  That  his  God-like  utterances  in  the  name  of  man  are  justly 
befitting  his  holy  office  and  the  sacred  position  he  occupies  as  a  minister 
of  the  Gospel  and  teacher  of  God's  truths  on  earth;  that  his  words  are 
liighly  commendable,  and  tliat  his  example  be  emulated  and  taught  by  all 
teachers  and  edueatois  of  man. 

Resolved,  That  this  Central  Labor  Union  respectfully  tender  a  copy  of 
these  resolutions  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rainsford,  with  the  heartfelt  thanks  of 
organized  labor,  and  that  the  i:)ublic  press  be  requested  to  publish  the 
same,  that  Labor's  friends  may  be  encouraged  to  speak  out  honestly  and 
nobly  in  downtrodden  humanity's  cause. 

Of  the  Year  Book  of  1900  The  Outlook  of  November  17th  ap- 
preciatively says: 

Of  the  increasing  number  of  Year-Books  published  by  our  churches  that 
of  St.  George's,  New  York  City,  still  maintains  its  lead  in  interest.  St. 
George's  is  essentially  a  down-to^vll  church;  perhaps  it  has  successfully 
solved  more  problems  than  has  any  other  religious  mstitution  similarly 
situated.     Within  the  past  year,  however,  its  situation  has  again  changed. 


350  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

As  Dr.  Rainsford,  the  rector,  says,  from  the  nature  of  the  movement  in 
the  popuh\tion  of  the  city,  those  wlio  are  liberally  supplied  with  means 
form  each  year  a  lessening  proportion  of  the  congregation;  but  poor 
people,  too,  are  now  moving  away  from  the  neighborhood;  nor  are  the 
causes  of  this  movement  hard  to  imderstand: 

'  Here  is  a  family  that  comes  in  contact  with  the  church  when  tlie  chil- 
dren are  quite  little.  These  join  the  kindergarten  and  juvenile  Sunday- 
school  classes.  In  their  early  teens  the  boys  go  into  the  Trade-school,  the 
girls  into  the  Junior  Friendly.  Later  the  boys  are  to  be  foimd  in  the 
Battalion,  and  still  later  in  the  Men's  Club,  while  the  girls  have  graduated 
to  the  various  classes  of  the  Girls'  Friendly  or  King's  Daughters.  The 
whole  status  of  the  family  has  risen,  and  when  these  children,  who  came 
to  us  before  their  teens,  reach  their  early  twenties,  the  family  comes  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  neighborhood  in  which  they  have  lived  for  many 
years  isn't  good  enough  for  them,  and  they  move  to  Brooklyn  or  to  One 
Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Street.  It  is  absolutely  true  that  our  poor  people 
are  moving  away  almost  as  rapidly  as  our  rich  have  moved.  You  will 
see  that,  the  facts  being  as  I  state  tbem,  the  work  of  the  church  is  not 
made  easier  thereby.  We  have  to  stand  our  ground,  and  do  what  we  can 
for  thousands  of  people  who  in  a  few  years  will  not  be  numbered  in  our 
flock.  Surely  the  work  of  the  down-town  church  in  New  York  jiresents 
difficulties  and  opportunities  that  are  unique.' 

A  new  departure  made  during  the  past  year  was  the  freeing  of  Dr. 
Rainsford's  staff  from  all  other  Avork  for  a  fortnight,  that  it  might  devote 
its  attention  to  a  house-to-house  visitation  of  certain  blocks  east  of  First 
Avenue.  On  the  admirable  scheme  of  lectures  addressed  to  working-men 
which  found  successful  realization  last  winter  The  Outlook  has  already 
commented.  Dr.  Rainsford's  next  need  to  be  supplied  is  as  follows :  '  I 
want  to  give  the  young  working  people  opportunity  for  meeting.  .  .  . 
Opportunities  for  social  intercourse  are  an  immense  moral  safeguard.  .  .  . 
As  things  are  to-day  in  New  York,  where  can  a  young  man  and  a  young 
woman  meet?  Not  in  the  tenement-house.  That  is  too  crowded  and  gen- 
erally too  hot.  The  street  is  a  poor  place,  and  to  loiter  there  and  talk 
is  contrary  to  law.  The  hasty  '  move  on  '  of  the  ]ioliceman  is  not  a  pleasant 
though  it  is  a  very  common  experience.'  Dr.  Rainsford  would  provide  a 
large,  simply  furnished  room,  with  a  piano  and  papers  and  writing  ma- 
terial— a  church  drawing-room  always  open.  The  idea  is  a  good  one,  and 
we  hope  to  see  the  experiment  tried. 

In  the  Year  Book  of  1901,  Dr.  Rainsford  wrote : 

There  are,  no  doubt,  other  conditions  of  Church  work  than  those  obtain- 
ing where  Ave  are  ]:)laced;  there  are  other  locations  Avhere  to  reach  the 
people  in  whose  neighborhood  the  church  stands  is,  comparatively  speaking, 
easy;  but,  situated  on  the  East  Side  of  New  York,  as  St.  George's  is,  I 
owe  it  to  you  and  myself  frankly  to  confess  that  year  by  year  it  grows 
a  little  more  difficult  to  bring  our  neighbors  into  the  Church  or  its  kindred 
organizations.  There  is  a  steady,  though  slow,  falling  away  in  the  attend- 
ance of  our  Sunday  evening  congregation  at  St.  George's,  and  yet  since 
I  have  been  rector  the  service  has  never  been  so  efficiently  rendered,  nor 
has  the  preaching  ever  been  better;  both  are  positively  good. 

The  change  in  Sunday  obsen'ance  is  very  gi-eat.     Multitudes  of  men — 


DEACONESS    HOUSE,    19*^2 
208  and  210  East  Sixteenth  Street 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  351 

good  men  and  good  citizens — who  used  to  come  to  church  more  or  less 
regrilai'ly  now  spend  Sunday  in  outdoor  recreation  of  one  sort  or  another. 
There  has  been  a  lamentable  increase  of  social  entertainment  on  Sunday, 
and  this  among  a  class  that  have  absolutely  no  excuse  for  making  this 
misuse  of  the  Lord's  day,  for  they  have  plenty  of  leisure  the  other  six 
days  of  the  week  to  entertain  as  much  as  they  choose.  By  using  the  seventh 
day  for  such  puri^oses  they  overwork  their  servants  and  they  add  to  the 
strain  and  stress  of  life.  They  generally  neglect  their  cliildren,  if  they 
have  any,  and,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  they  take  away  somewhat 
from  the  repose  and  quiet  of  the  day — a  repose  and  quiet  that  are  more 
needed  by  our  sorely  beset  generation  than  ever  before. 

A  low  class  of  theaters  and  nearly  all  the  saloons  are  wide  open  for 
the  poor,  and  though  at  first  there  may  seem  no  connection  whatever  be- 
tween the  desecration  of  the  Lord's  day  among  the  fasliionable  people  and 
this  last  desecration  which  I  allude  to  on  the  Bowery  among  the  poorest, 
I  think  you  will  see  that  there  is  a  very  real  connection  between  the  two. 
What  is  done  at  one  end  of  society  is  always  copied  at  the  other,  whether 
it  be  the  ostentation  of  the  funeral  or  the  gambling  on  the  race-track  or 
at  cards.  If  saloons  were  oi3en — as.  in  my  judgment  they  should  be — at 
midday  and  at  dinner  hour,  they  might  be  kept  shut  at  the  dangerous  and 
unprofitable  hours  during  which  they  are  now  doing  their  evil  work.  But 
since  an  ignorant  bigotry  opiooses  such  reasonable  hours  of  opening,  we 
are  grievously  afflicted  and  tormented  by  the  illegal  and  much  more  de- 
moralizing opening,  protected  by  the  police,  and  winked  at  by  the  public. 

It  is  needless  for  me  to  repeat  that  our  burdened  city  society  needs  the 
Church  as  it  never  needed  it  before;  needs  it  for  the  very  change  it  brings 
into  life,  if  for  no  higher  reason ;  needs  it  for  its  restf ulness  and  peace. 
I  belie\e  that  need  will  gi-ow  and  make  itself  felt,  and  that  the  evils  that 
spring  from  the  neglect  of  the  Church  will  be  the  final  inducement  to  men 
to  return  to  her.  The  hunger  for  the  spiritual  is  not  dead  among  the 
people. 

The  work  of  his  deaconesses  was  one  which  Dr.  Rainsford  deemed 
of  inestimable  value.  He  had  long  hoped  to  house  them  more  com- 
fortably than  in  their  rented  quarters.  His  hope  was  realized  when 
in  February,  1902,  his  senior  warden  presented  to  the  vestry  a  deed 
of  two  lots,  Nos.  208  and  210  Bast  Sixteenth  Street,  on  which  he 
had  erected  what  the  rector  enthusiastically  called  "  the  most  beau- 
tiful deaconess  house  in  the  United  States,  adequate  in  every  way, 
charming  and  comfortable."  The  deaconesses  with  glad  hearts  set- 
tled in  their  new  quarters  in  April,  1902,  the  ladies  of  the  Church 
having  provided  $5,000  for  the  proper  furnishing.  The  East  Side 
people,  when  they  heard  "  their  friends  the  deaconesses  "  were  to 
have  new  quarters,  got  up  a  show  and  fair  netting  $600  which  was 
paid  over  to  the  rector.  Toward  the  endowment  of  the  house  $3,000 
was  received  from  an  anonymous  friend.  The  dedication  service 
was  conducted  by  the  bishop  April  10th.  One  feature  of  the  house 
is  the  infirmary  on  the  fourth  floor,  where  convalescent  patients 


352 


HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


from  the  hospitals  not  strong  enough  as  yet  to  take  up  the  old  life 
and  work  are  given  better  nourishment  and  pleasanter  surround- 
ings than  their  tenement  homes  could  provide.  Women  and  girls, 
tired  and  almost  sick,  also  find  here  rest  and  refreshment  which 
often  wards  off  illness.    The  house  has  proved  incalculably  useful. 

The  attention  of  the  vestry  having  been  called  to  the  Church's 
ownership  of  lots  in  the  New  York  Bay  Cemetery,  the  property 
committee  was  authorized  to  have  the  same  put  in  order  and  was 
empowered  to  dispose  of  lots  and  locate  burial  places.  In  August, 
1851,  the  board  of  trustees  of  this  cemetery,  located  in  Hudson 
County,  New  Jersey,  conveyed  twenty  lots  to  Stephen  H.  Tyng, 
rector  of  St.  George's  Church,  as  a  gift  to  assist  in  developing  the 
cemetery,  the  consideration  being  that  the  grantee  should  suitably 
inclose  the  lots,  maintain  the  same  in  good  order,  and  pay  the  mainte- 
nance charge  of  twenty  dollars  per  year  on  the  basis  of  one  dollar 
for  each  lot.  The  title  of  the  lots  was  subsequently  transferred  to 
the  Church  and  the  poor  of  the  parish  who  cannot  afford  to  pur- 
chase graves  can  freely  secure  burial  places  therein. 

The  rector  in  his  twentieth  year  book,  Easter,  1902,  gave  a  sta- 
tistical summary,  covering  the  nineteen  years  and  three  months  of 
his  ministry,  which  indicates  the  amazing  progress  which  had  been 
attained  during  this  period.     The  figures  speak  for  themselves: 

PAROCHIAL  STATISTICS 


S3 
3 

o 
■< 

S 
< 

2 
5 

a 

o 

■< 

s 

r. 

■< 
z 

p. 

31 

■< 

a 
a 

a 

z 

o 

a 
o 

z 

From  Jan.  1 

1883,  to  Easter,  1883.. 

5 

3 

2 

50 

No 

list 

'  Easter 

,  1883   ' 

1884.. 

76 

22 

22 

119 

550 

1,,300 

1884   ' 

188.5.  . 

73 

51 

51 

136 

700 

1,9.53 

188.5   ' 

1886.. 

99 

66 

58 

161 

1,215 

2,795 

1886   ' 

1887.. 

177 

74 

83 

148 

1,4.34 

3,188 

1887   ' 

1888.. 

102 

71 

61 

L50 

1,788 

3,388 

1888   ' 

1889.. 

144 

101 

74 

164 

2,123 

4,482 

1889   ' 

1890.. 

172 

101 

60 

148 

2,4.58 

4,982 

1890   ' 

1891 . . 

159 

91 

67 

217 

2,591 

5,269 

1891   ' 

1892.. 

173 

94 

112 

199 

2,797 

5,582 

1892   ' 

1893.. 

202 

79 

104 

209 

3,185 

5,972 

1893   ' 

1894.. 

196 

87 

112 

216 

3,4.30 

5,872 

1894   ' 

1895.. 

239 

102 

110 

180 

3,479 

5,976 

1895   ' 

1896.. 

199 

86 

92 

228 

3,611 

5,659 

1896   ' 

1897.. 

187 

72 

101 

229 

4,163 

7,447 

1897   ' 

1898.. 

202 

74 

78 

191 

4,129 

7, .574 

1898   ' 

1899.. 

163 

105 

89 

189 

4,381 

7,.521 

1899   ' 

1900. . 

216 

86 

88 

204 

4,634 

7,967 

1900   ' 

1901.. 

181 

84 

102 

204 

5,018 

8,280 

'     ( ( 

1901   ' 

1902. . 

163 

84 

98 

206 

5,086 

8,290 

THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD 


353 


FINANCIAL  RECEIPTS 


ENVELOPES 

r  PLATES 

OTHER 
SOURCES 

TOTAL 

From  Jan   1,  1883,  to  Easter, 

1884... 

$6,000 

$5,000 

$34,000 

$45,000 

'    Easter,  1884       " 

1885... 

9,300 

3,800 

44,900 

58,000 

"      1885       " 

1886... 

13,900 

4,600 

68,500 

87,000 

"      1886       " 

1887 . . . 

14,700 

3,600 

57,700 

76,000 

"      1887       " 

1888... 

15,900 

4,942 

54,158 

75,000 

"      1888       " 

1889... 

22,850 

5,170 

49,980 

78,000 

"      1889       " 

1890... 

20,843 

4,440 

82,553 

107,836* 

"      1890       " 

1891... 

19,890 

4,528 

87,173 

111,591 

"      1891       " 

1892... 

20,061 

4,192 

103,076 

127,329t 

"      1892       " 

1893... 

20,123 

4,470 

110,529 

135,1221 

"      1893       " 

1894... 

19,420 

3,758 

106,407 

129,5851 

"      1894       " 

1895... 

19,260 

3,501 

123,828 

146,589§ 

"      1895       " 

1896... 

18,478 

3,652 

107,398 

129,5281[ 

"      1896       " 

1897... 

18,473 

3,262 

65,445 

87,180 

"      1897       " 

1898... 

18,169 

2,675 

69,384 

90,228 

"       1898       " 

1899... 

18,452 

2,529 

61,380 

82,361 

"      1899       " 

1900... 

19,875 

2,800 

93,842 

116,517a 

"      1900       " 

1901 . . . 

18,868 

3,047 

67,186 

89,101 

"      1901       " 

1902... 

19,775 

3,544 

74,257 

97,576 

Cost  of  Memorial  Building  ground ,  building  and  f  urnisliing ;  Cost  of  ground 
and  building  new  Deaconess  House,  Property  at  Rockaway  Park. 


Thia  incluiiea  $35,791,  money  collected  by  the  yestry  for  the  repairs  of  the  church,  and  other  special  objects. 
"Deludes  $8;^, 665,  endowment  fund. 

Deludes  $29,969,  endowment  fund. 

Deludes  $30,831,  endowment  fund. 

Deludes  $56,684,  endowment  fund. 

Deludes  $32,377,  endowment  fund. 

Deludes  $30,429,  Easter  collection  for  special  repairs  and  improvements  in  Church  and  Memorial  House. 


$1,869,543 

385,000 
2,254,543 


The  following  figures  indicating  membership  in  various  bodies  in 
the  parish  will  be  of  interest :  Vestry,  11 ;  Clerical  and  Deaconess 
Staff,  16 ;  Corps  of  Ushers,  16 ;  Chancel  Committee  and  Decorating 
Committee,  25 ;  Sunday-school,  including  teachers  and  officers  204, 
2,312;  Girls'  Friendly  Society,  500;  King's  Daughters,  400;  Mothers' 
Meeting,  384;  Sewing  School,  409;  Young  Married  Women's  So- 
ciety, 191 ;  Dramatic  and  Literary  Society,  25  ;  St.  Andrew's  Brother- 
hood, 15;  Men's  Club,  athletic  branch,  600;  Battalion,  250;  Evening 
Trade  School  for  Boys,  300. 

The  choir  were  chiefly  members  of  the  congregation  who  had  had 

no  musical  education.     To  make  of  them  trained  choristers  four 

separate  grades  were  instituted,  each  receiving  personal  instruction 

according  to  their  several  abilities  and  gaining  promotion  to  a  higher 

grade  through  an  attained  greater  proficiency.     The  Sunday-school 

was  divided  into  the  Primary  Department  with  its  Kindergarten, 

the    Junior    Department,    the    Senior    School,    and    Bible    Classes. 

Graduation  to  each  higher  course  of  study  was  secured  upon  the 

passing  of  examinations.     There  were  meetings  of  the  teachers  for 
23 


354  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

preparation  of  the  lessons  and  also  lectures  for  them  in  the  art  of 
teaching  by  Dr.  Hervey  and  Professor  Fagnani.  The  Battalion 
was  reviewed  by  Colonel  Appleton  in  May  in  the  Seventh  Regiment 
Armory,  and  the  colonel  thus  wrote  of  it:  "  I  desire  to  say  that  I 
have  never  seen  a  more  attentive  body  of  soldiers,  and  it  was  in- 
structive to  me  to  notice  the  enthusiasm  that  carried  them  through 
one  of  the  longest  drills  ever  witnessed  in  the  Seventh  Regiment 
Armory  without  a  man  flinching  or  expressing  in  his  face  a  desire 
to  fall  out."  The  Men's  Club  has  become  self-supporting  and  re- 
linquished the  appropriation  which  the  vestry  formerly  had  made 
for  it.  The  Dramatic  and  Literary  Society  had  been  taken  up 
by  the  young  people  with  enthusiasm,  and  its  members  gained  im- 
provement in  such  lines  as  pronunciation,  elocution,  and  self- 
possession  as  well  as  much  enjoyment  in  the  production  of  the 
plays.  The  rector  had  been  criticized  for  wanting  "  to  turn  the 
Church  into  a  theater,"  but  he  believed  the  drama  ought  to  be  a 
power  for  good  in  human  life  and  the  dramatic  instinct  utilized  in 
right  directions.  He  was  also  criticized  for  letting  the  young  people 
dance  in  the  memorial  house,  but  he  believed  in  bringing  them  to- 
gether in  a  healthy  atmosphere.  He  did  not  think  the  sidewalk 
ought  to  be  the  only  place  for  social  intercourse.  They  had  no 
chance  for  this  in  tenement  conditions,  and  dance  halls  were  no 
place  for  them,  so  he  approved  their  social  gatherings  with  dancing 
in  the  parish  house.  The  Fresh  Air  work  was  of  incalculable  value. 
No  less  than  811  adults  and  children  had  been  entertained  for  a 
whole  week  at  St.  George's  Cottage,  Rockaway  Park,  at  the  Bat- 
talion Camp  and  other  places  of  resort,  while  12,355  people  were 
taken  on  a  day's  excursion  during  the  season  at  a  total  cost  of 
$5,299.  There  had  for  years  been  in  the  parish  three  organizations 
for  bettering  the  condition  of  the  poor — the  Employment  Society, 
the  Helping  Hand,  and  the  Clothing  Department — working  on  the 
same  general  principle  of  giving  work  to  those  who  needed  it  for 
which  in  return  they  received  compensation  in  clothing,  groceries, 
or  money.  In  the  fall  of  1902  the  rector  accomplished  a  consolida- 
tion of  these  agencies  in  order  to  secure  a  more  effective  work. 

A  proper  celebration  of  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  Dr.  Rains- 
ford's  entrance  on  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  the  vestry  in  November,  1902,  and  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  arrange  details.  The  twenty-four  assistants  who  had 
wrought  with  the  rector  in  the  parish  work  were  asked  to  attend 
the  celebration  as  the  Church's  guests.  Over  three  thousand  invita- 
tions were  sent  out  for  a  reception  January  1st.    The  rector  and  his 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  355 

wife  received  in  the  large  room  in  the  Memorial  House,  which  was 
beautifully  decorated,  a  band  of  music  being  furnished  in  the  gallery 
and  refreshments  served  upon  the  lower  floor.  On  the  next  evening 
the  wardens  and  vestrymen  gave  a  dinner  to  the  rector  to  which 
Bishop  Potter,  Bishop  Doane,  Drs.  Greer  and  Huntington,  and  other 
distinguished  guests  were  invited.  These  with  the  present  and 
former  assistants,  the  members  of  the  vestry  and  Mr.  Reichert,  sec- 
retary of  the  committee,  made  forty-four  in  all  who  sat  down  to  the 
banquet.  Mr.  R,  Fulton  Cutting  toward  its  close  presented  Dr. 
Rainsford,  in  behalf  of  the  wardens  and  vestrymen,  with  a  gold 
loving-cup  inscribed  on  the  bowl:  "  Presented  to  the  Rev.  W.  S. 
Rainsford,  D.D.,  in  loving  recognition  of  twenty  years  of  a  faithful 
and  successful  rectorship,  St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  1903," 
with  the  names  of  the  vestry ;  and  on  the  base,  ' '  The  Love  of  God — 
The  Brotherhood  of  Man — The  Spirit  of  Jesus."  The  rector  ex- 
pressed his  deep  appreciation  in  response,  and  remarks  were  made 
by  Bishop  Doane,  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan,  Mr,  Seth  Low,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
S.  D.  McConnell,  the  Rev.  Ralph  Brydges,  and  the  Rev.  Lindsay 
Parker.  "  Auld  Lang  Syne  "  was  sung  and  the  benediction  pro- 
nounced. 

At  the  Sunday  morning  service,  January  4th,  the  body  of  as- 
sistants in  their  vestments  occupied  reserved  front  seats,  with  the 
wardens  and  vestrymen  seated  directly  behind  them.  The  sermon 
was  preached  by  Bishop  Doane,  of  Albany,  and  Mr.  R.  F.  Cutting 
followed  with  a  brief  review  of  the  development  of  the  parish  during 
the  twenty  years.  The  rector  paid  a  feeling  tribute  to  those  who 
had  helped  him  and  who  had  passed  away  and  to  those  who  were 
still  active  in  the  parish  work.  At  the  evening  service  three  of  the 
old  assistants  spoke — Lindsay  Parker,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  and 
Frank  H.  Nelson.  The  offerings  at  the  services  were  added  to  the 
Church  endowment. 

The  Bishop  of  Albany  in  the  conclusion  of  his  sermon  paid  this 
tribute  to  the  fidelity  of  the  past  and  present  rectors  of  St.  George's 
to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ : 

There  has  never  been  in  the  long  and  honorable  history  of  this  parish 
any  uncertain  sound  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesns  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  Per- 
haps to  some  of  us  at  times  the  voice  seemed  somewhat  narrow  and  hard, 
but  earnest  and  true  and  fearless  it  has  been  always  in  its  way.  And  to- 
day it  is  broad  and  rich  and  fresh  and  clear  and  true  and  searching,  be- 
cause the  breath  that  sounds  it  and  the  mind  that  modulates  it  are  true  and 
clear  and  fresh  and  rich  and  broad  with  the  evangelical  catholicity  of 
the  Gospel  in  the  Church.  Here  in  this  house  of  God,  here  in  the  presence 
of  the  rector,  here  in  the  face  of  his  vestry  and  his  people,  of  his  friends, 


356  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

it  would  violate  the  sacred  proprieties  of  the  place  and  the  instincts  of  his 
nature  if  I  ventured  to  utter  needless  and  niisi)laced  words  of  praise.  But 
standing  in  the  contemplation  of  the  results  of  the  twenty  years  of  this 
rich  rectorship,  one  may  thank  God  for  the  abundant  blessings  which  have 
proved  and  crowned  its  faithfulness.  From  the  very  beginning  when  the 
stand  was  taken  that  tlie  Church  must  not  move  into  what  seemed  larger 
and  easier  places,  but  must  stay  here  and  do  its  work  among  its  old  neigh- 
bors and  its  new  ones,  from  the  very  beginning,  with  the  introduction  of 
and  tlie  insistence  on  a  service  of  rich  and  reverent  worship,  with  the 
church  continuously  open  to  all,  absolutely  free  to  all,  with  constant  and 
continuous  preaching,  and  with  frequent  opportunities  for  Holy  Com- 
munion, the  plan  v,as  laid  out  which  has  been  steadily  perasted  in  of  tliis 
ministry  in  all  its  ways  of  presentation  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God. 

Mr.  Cutting  in  his  address  emphasized  Dr.  Rainsford's  insistence 
on  the  social  mission  of  the  Church  as  a  fundamental  reason  for  the 
success  he  had  achieved: 

Dr.  Rainsford  has  never  ceased  to  press  upon  the  congregation  the 
fundamental  importance  of  the  social  mission  of  the  Church,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish every  step  toward  the  realization  of  that  ideal  by  a  characteristic 
positiveness.  So  doing,  he  has  touched  us  on  the  side  which  is  most  open 
to  the  breath  of  insiDiration.  Coercion,  restriction,  are  negative,  repellent. 
They  are  tolerable  only  when  in  suboi"dination  to  the  forward  movement. 
But  the  positive  is  a  vital  element  of  civilization,  and  he  who  strikes  that 
chord  with  a  sure  and  certain  hand  will  inevitably  discover  the  responsive 
music  of  the  human  soul. 

Twenty  years  ago  there  were  many  people  who  looked  askance  at  the 
methods  of  the  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church  and  thought  that  he  was 
dangerously  secularizing  the  functions  of  the  Christian  Church.  But  have 
not  the  results  of  his  policy  testified  to  its  value?  Has  not  the  fact  of 
reverent  multitudes  kneeling  at  the  table  of  the  Lord  within  these  honored 
walls  attested  its  virtues?  Indeed,  it  has  given  to  us  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  the  many  distinctive  characteristics  of  St.  George's  Parish, 
and  that  is  the  inseparability  of  the  social  and  the  spiritual. 

Dr.  Rainsford's  own  description  of  the  mission  of  the  Church  was 
in  these  words : 

I  want  to  say  to  you  people,  one  and  all,  that  we  can't  afford  to  forget 
the  Lord's  command  that  we  are  here  to  caicJi  men.  We  are  not  here  to 
build  cathedrals  or  beautiful  churches  and  then  throw  them  open  and  wait 
till  the  people  come.  We  are  here  to  catch  men,  to  go  after  them.  For  the 
people  need  God;  and  more,  as  one  of  you  said  at  the  dinner  last  Friday 
night,  they  know  they  need  God.  Beloved,  let  me  say  it — and  I  know 
that  I  am  not  exaggerating  the  situation  of  multitudes  of  people  in  tliis 
land  to-day:  they  know  they  need  God,  but  they  don't  think  the  Church 
can  help  them  to  God.  When  I  use  the  term  '  the  Church,'  I  shall  con- 
tinue to  use  it  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  term.  And  if  we  seek  to  be 
true  to  the  Master,  true  to  the  gi'eat  past  in  which  we  rejoice,  true  to 
the  richest  heritage  which  we  profess  to  enjoy,  beloved,  we  have  got  to 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  357 

face  that  fact  that  there  are  multitudes  of  people  in  this  land  that  know 
they  want  God,  but  believe  that  the  Church  has  ceased  to  have  any  special 
message  for  them.  I  am  convinced,  as  I  recognize  tliis  unhappy  fact,  as 
I  set  myself,  so  far  as  1  see  the  waj',  as  one  weak  man,  to  correct  it,  I  am 
absolutely  convinced  that  the  way  to  do  it,  the  way  out  of  all  our  dif- 
ficulties, is  to  try  to  get  back  to  the  methods  of  Jesus,  in  His  example, 
in  His  teaching,  in  the  study  of  it,  all  we  can  give.  I  am  more  and  more 
convinced  of  that;  and  the  more  I  study  the  more  I  see  that  Jesus'  plan 
was  absolutely,  superbly  successful.  He  came  to  men,  and  He  was  one 
of  them.  He  put  on  the  garb  of  his  time.  He  spoke  the  patois  of  His 
land.  No  beautiful  Greek  tongaie  was  His.  He  had  His  thoughts,  His 
deeds,  moulded  by  the  traditions  of  the  localit3^  And  yet  He  was  the  Son 
of  God.  And  there  comes  down  to  us,  beyond  misunderstanding.  His 
great,  big,  sim^Dle  plan  which  God  in  His  infinite  mercy  give  us  grace  to 
follow. 

Beloved,  what  we  have  got  to  do,  if  we  are  going  to  do  His  work  in  our 
time,  is  to  make  the  people  see  that  because  we  are  Christians,  and  because 
we  belong  to  the  Christian  Church,  we  determine  to  be  one  with  them,  not 
only  because  they  need  God,  but  because  the  everlasting  God  has  ordained, 
in  His  infinite  wisdom,  that  men  do  not  only  need  God,  but  they  need  God 
by  way  of  God's  Church.  There  is  no  other  way.  There  is  no  other  way. 
The  Church  is  the  organization  of  men  that  are  trying  to  be  good,  after 
the  pattern  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  age  in  which  we  live  manifests  on  all 
hands  the  widest  development  in  human  activity  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  So,  in  the  mercy  of  God.  we  look  to  the  common  sense  and  enlighten- 
ment of  men  to  see  that  men  cannot  be  good  alone  any  more  than  they  can 
lose  alone,  or  be  successful  alone,  or  happy  alone,  or  do  anything  in  this 
world  alone,  that  men  usually  crave  to  do.  No  more  can  they  be  good 
alone.  Just  as  I  have  put  it  to  you  before,  I  put  it  to  you  again,  because  in 
its  simplicity  lies  its  regenerating  power — you  cannot  be  good,  in  these 
United  States,  without  the  Church  of  God.  Society,  as  Mr.  Cutting  has  said, 
cannot  be  saved  except  by  the  Church  of  God.  It  is  the  deepest  conviction  of 
my  soul  that  in  the  mercy  of  God  it  is  provided  that  in  the  Church,  and  the 
Church  alone,  should  be  developed  the  compensatmg  force  against  the 
severe  competition  of  the  time,  the  development  and  maintenance  and 
declaration  to  men  of  the  largest,  most  loving,  most  practically  brotherly 
association  that  the  world  lias  ever  seen — her  life,  her  unity  in  love,  her 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  God  calls  all  men  that  love  and  follow  Jesus 
Clu'ist  in  the  twentieth  century  to  unite  in  the  Church  of  God,  which,  in 
the  true  and  infinite  mercy  of  God,  is  a  saving  force,  to  save  us  from 
being  ground  and  rent  asunder  by  the  prevailing  competition  of  the  times. 
Competition  gives  spur  to  the  lazy  flank  of  humanity.  But  more  than  a 
spur,  men  need  a  luring  onward  and  upward  to  the  great  principle  of 
love  that  Jesus  revealed  and  incarnated.  We  are  here  in  the  world,  with 
our  money,  with  our  time,  with  our  education,  with  our  social  influence, 
and  some  of  us  Avith  only  our  horny  hands — and  the  Master's  hands  were 
horny — to  give  expression  to  that  glorious  truth. 

The  following  letters  of  regret  and  inability  to  attend  the  twentieth 
anniversary  were  received  from  the  editor  of  The  Outlook  and  the 
president  of  Columhia  University: 


358  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

New  York,  December  26,  1902. 
J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Esq. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  regret  very  much  that  absence  from  the  city  in  the  West  makes  it 
impossible  for  me  to  accej^t  the  invitation  extended  to  me  to  attend  the 
dinner  to  be  given  on  the  2d  of  Jannaiy,  1903,  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rainsford. 
His  inspiring  influence  has  reached  far  beyond  the  bounds  not  only  of  his 
OAvn  parish  and  his  own  city,  but  also  of  the  honored  Church  to  wliich 
he  belongs.  I  do  not  think  any  man  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  centuiy  has 
done  more  to  influence  the  Church  in  the  direction  of  a  democratic  ad- 
ministration and  a  catholic  faith,  disregarding  the  lines  of  class  as  well  as 
of  creed,  than  Dr.  Rainsford. 

I  am  sorry  that  1  cannot  by  my  personal  presence  attest  my  affectionate 
regard  for  him  and  my  gratitude  for  the  work  which  he  and  those  asso- 
ciated with  him  have  done. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Lyman  Abbott. 

Columbia  University,  January  7,  1903. 
Jtev.  Br.  W.  S.  Rainsford. 
My  dear  Rector: 

It  has  been  a  keen  disappointment  to  me  that  because  of  Mrs.  Butler's 
critical  illness  I  have  been  unable  to  participate  personally  in  the  re- 
joicings attendant  upon  the  celebration  of  the  twentieth  anniversary  of 
your  coming  to  St.  George's.  You  well  know,  however,  that  I  have  been 
l^resent  in  spirit,  and  that  no  one  feels  more  keenly  or  more  deeply  than 
I  do  the  splendid  service  which  j'ou  have  rendered  to  the  community  and 
to  the  church. 

With  warmest  regards  I  am,  Sincerely  yours, 

Nicholas  Murray  Butler. 

The  Rector  of  St.  George's  was  the  speaker  at  the  midday  service 
in  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Philadelphia,  March  13,  1903,  in  which 
he  was  said  to  have  made  statements  which  certain  persons  felt  to 
be  "  subversive  of  the  Gospel  and  of  the  Christian  Faith."  Eleven 
clergymen,  styling  themselves  "  members  of  both  the  great  historic 
schools  of  the  Church,"  issued  a  statement  condemning  the  preacher 
by  implication  as  guilty  of  a  catalogue  of  disloyalties  and  specifying 
a  number  of  things  which  they  solemnly  declared  to  be  ''  the  very 
truths  of  God."  The  Church  Standard  of  that  cit3%  on  the  other 
hand,  testified  that  intelligent  persons  who  were  present  vehemently 
denied  that  Dr.  Rainsford 's  statements  were  subversive  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church.  It  was  also  reported  that  the  Bishop  when 
asked  to  join  in  the  statement  of  the  eleven  presbyters  replied  with 
characteristic  dignity,  "  If  you  will  show  me  a  stenographic  report 
of  what  Dr.  Rainsford  said  I  will  express  an  opinion,"  Just  what 
Dr.  Rainsford  really  did  say  no  one  appeared  to  know,  as  those  who 
heard   him   did   not   agree   in   their   recollection,   but   general   un- 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  359 

prejudiced  opinion  approved  the  position  of  the  New  York  Sun, 
which  said: 

We  have  seen  no  exact  report  of  the  remarks  of  Dr.  Rainsford  at  Phila- 
delpliia,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  he  swerved  in  the  least  from 
the  position  held  by  many  of  the  most  illustrious  Churchmen  of  this  time, 
or  said  anything  which  would  have  provoked  surprise  in  any  one  familiar 
with  theological  teachings  of  men  of  the  highest  and  most  approved  stand- 
ing in  the  Anglican  Church  and  the  Episcopal  Church. 

The  bishop  coadjutor  of  Pennsylvania,  in  view  of  the  continued 
commotion  in  Philadelphia  on  the  subject,  addressed  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Eainsford,  who  was  his  personal  friend,  expressing  full  confidence 
in  him  as  ''  a  frank,  bold,  loyal,  and  sincere  Christian  in  all  the 
fundamentals  of  the  faith,"  but  suggesting  in  view  of  the  misap- 
prehensions existing  that  he  write  to  the  bishop  stating,  at  his  re- 
quest, what  the  facts  were.  To  this  letter  Dr.  Rainsford  thus  re- 
plied : 

New  York,  April  2,  1903. 
My  dear  Bishop: 

Your  very  kind  letter  is,  I  need  scarcely  say,  warmly  appreciated.  If 
anything  could  move  me  to  assume  the  defensive  in  this  pending  con- 
troversy, it  would  be  your  request.  But  I  cannot  even  for  you,  good  friend 
though  you  are,  waive  my  own  judgment  as  to  what  honor  and  honesty 
demand  of  me. 

I  taught  at  Philadelphia  in  my  noonday  addresses  only  what  I  have 
been  teaching  in  St.  George's  Church  for  twenty  years  past;  not  only  so, 
but  in  printed  discourses  which  have  been  open  to  public  criticism  and 
official  censure  ever  since  their  publication,  teaching  substantially  identical 
with  that  which  it  is  now  sought  to  condemn,  has  stood  unrebuked. 

I  accept  ex  animo  '  all  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith  as  contained  in 
tlie  Apostles'  Creed,'  and  I  hold  to  the  mediatorship  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  with  my  whole  heart;  have  made  it,  hi  fact,  one  of  the  cardinal 
points  of  my  teaching.  Whether  in  my  method  of  expressing  my  beliefs, 
I  depart  from,  established  usage  farther  than  is  wise  is  a  question  for  my 
ecclesiastical  superiors. 

To  a  self-constituted  tribunal,  swayed  so  far  as  one  may  judge— partly 
by  anger  and  partly  by  timidity — I  cannot  hold  myself  resi^onsible  in  the 
least  degree. 

You  remember,  my  dear  Bishop,  as  well  as  I  do,  the  pressure  that  was 
brought  to  bear  on  Frederick  Temple  in  1869,  and  on  Phillips  Brooks  in 
1891,  to  persuade  them  to  break  silence.  But  they  held  their  peace.  The 
one  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  other  Bishop  of  Massachusetts. 
To-day  no  charge  of  heresy  is  so  much  as  whispered  against  either  one 
of  them,  and  they  are  praised  in  all  the  churches. 

I  am,  dear  Bishop,  with  esteem  and  regard, 

Faithfully  yours, 

W.  S.  Rainsford. 

Rt.  Rev.  A.  Mackay-Smith,  D.D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


360  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Dr.  Rainsford's  views  as  to  the  place  and  function  of  creeds  are 
well  expressed  in  these  words  which  he  penned  some  two  years  later: 

I  am  confident  that  unless  our  creeds  are  treated  as  symbols  of  divine 
truth,  beautiful  and  necessary  if  you  will — but  still  as  symbols  and  not 
as  complete  and  final  exiDressions  of  divine  truth — these  creeds  that  we 
have  been  brought  up  to  love  and  reverence,  will  seem  to  our  fellow-men  as 
bandages  we  insist  on  binding  on  their  eyes — not  as  lamps  we  would  if  we 
might  ]ilace  in  their  hands. 

We  are  what  we  are,  we  know  what  little  we  know  because  others  have 
suffered  and  died  for  the  tnith  of  God  as  they  saw  it.  Their  duty  is  ours. 
We  too  must  be  willing  to  suffer  for  truth  as  we  see  it  to  hand  down  what 
we  see  to  our  children  as  our  fathers  handed  down  what  they  saw  to  us. 

The  light  shining  for  us  shows  us  things  they  could  not  see  but  that 
cannot  make  less  precious  the  things  they  saw,  and  seemg  them  lived  by 
them  and  died  for  them.  The  best  thinking,  the  best  praying,  the  best 
living  of  the  ages  leaves  its  mark  on  the  creeds.  They  were  not  only  the 
symbols  of  the  faith,  the  battle  flags  under  which  they  conquered,  they 
were  the  liglits  that  warmed  innumerable  hearts  and  homes. 

We  are  all  too  ready,  we  in  a  new  land,  to  forget  our  past,  the  pains 
and  privations,  the  patience  and  courage,  the  blood  and  life  of  those  whose 
labors  we  reap.     We  are  all  too  ready  in  our  vast  prosperity  to  forget. 

Many  say  the  churches  are  too  devotedly  wedded  to  the  past.  It  may 
be  so,  but  if  so  in  America  to-day  it  is  a  good  fault. 

The  church  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  house  of  the  spirit  of  Him  who  was 
and  is  and  is  to  come.  The  past  is  hers  as  the  present  is  hers  and  hers  the 
future.  Therefore  she  was,  is,  and  must  be  a  church  with  a  creed;  but  a 
creed  not  chiefly  of  definition  but  of  comprehension,  not  a  definite  state- 
ment of  truth  transcending  all  human  statements  that  drives  men  apart 
as  they  reason  and  argue,  but  a  sacred  symbol  hallowed  by  the  ages  that 
aids  men  to  meet  in  worship  and  points  the  way  of  prayer. 

Material  improvements  in  the  church  structure  were  efifected  dur- 
ing the  year  1904.  The  project  of  a  safer  and  more  modern  method 
of  electric  lighting  was  favorably  acted  on,  to  cost  not  in  excess  of 
$6,000  to  lie  provided  by  a  special  fund.  Ampler  protection  to  the 
congregation  in  the  event  of  fire  was  very  carefully  considered,  as 
it  was  recognized  that  the  existing  means  of  egress  were  not  ade- 
quate in  case  of  panic  from  whatever  cause.  The  changes  ultimately 
agreed  upon  were  those  suggested  by  the  architects  M.  L.  and  H.  G. 
Emery,  who  made  the  plans  and  had  cliarge  of  their  execution. 

In  order  to  improve  the  exits  at  the  east  end  of  the  church,  the 
columns  which  supported  the  east  gallery  were  removed  and  re- 
placed by  new  and  smaller  columns ;  these  being  so  set  as  to  avoid 
interference  with  free  passage  frora  the  main  church  into  the  vesti- 
bule, and  the  doors  from  the  main  floor  into  the  towers  were  closed 
up,  so  that  those  leaving  the  galleries  by  way  of  the  towers  might 


ST.  George's  church 

Christmas,  3  904 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  361 

have  full  possession  of  the  same;  and  the  doors  from  the  gallery 
into  the  towers  were  improved  in  some  respects  and  made  to  open 
more  readily  than  before.  New  leather-covered  doors  donated  by 
Mrs.  James  Amory  Moore  were  provided  for  the  vestibule  openings 
without  locks  or  latches  so  that  they  might  always  open  freely. 
New  front  doors,  lighter  and  more  manageable  than  the  old  ones, 
were  also  furnished. 

At  the  west  end  a  reconstruction  was  adopted  which  involved 
raising  the  chancel  organ  from  its  original  position  at  or  near  the 
level  of  the  main  floor  up  to  and  above  the  gallery  level.  By  this 
work  the  choir  stalls  and  the  chancel  organ  were  set  in  their  present 
position ;  and  in  point  of  appearance,  and  in  respect  to  the  sound 
of  the  singing  and  organ  music,  the  change  has  proved  most  suc- 
cessful and  satisfactory.  Two  large  vestibules  were  gained,  one 
under  each  side  of  the  choir.  A  new  doorway  to  Sixteenth  Street 
was  formed  in  the  south  side,  being  treated  on  the  exterior  in  a 
style  and  scale  conformable  to  the  surrounding  work,  and  reaching 
the  sidewalk  by  a  broad  platform  and  steps ;  while  on  the  north 
side  an  existing  small  doorway  was  enlarged  to  form  the  present 
wide  opening,  and  just  outside  of  it  a  very  large  vestibule  was 
formed,  giving  access  either  to  the  choir-room,  or  to  the  open-air 
passage  or  alleyway  on  the  north  side  of  the  church  and  so  to  Ruther- 
ford Place.  From  the  west  end  of  the  galleries  passageways  about 
four  feet  wide  Avere  formed  leading  to  easy  stairways  of  the  same 
width  which  descended  to  the  chancel.  The  entire  cost  of  this  work 
was  $23,890. 

Mr.  John  Rei chert,  who  had  been  the  rector's  secretary  almost 
from  the  beginning  of  Dr.  Rainsford's  rectorship,  was  appointed 
assistant  clerk  of  the  vestry  March  20,  1905,  and  in  the  following 
December  was  elected  clerk. 

In  the  fall  of  1904  the  rector  determined  to  consolidate  the  mis- 
sionary interests  of  the  parish  into  one  inclusive  organization  to  be 
called  St.  George's  Church  Missionary  Society.  It  seemed  to  him 
that  such  an  organization  would  be  wise  because  it  recognized  the 
fact  that  the  parish  as  a  whole  has  a  duty  toward  Missions  which 
was  not  adequately  met  when  a  number  of  small  societies  were  the 
only  agencies  at  work  for  the  advancement  of  this  cause  in  the 
parish.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  did  not  wish  either  to  abolish 
the  existing  agencies  or  to  lessen  their  activities.  He  simply  wished 
to  co-ordinate  them  into  one  representative  body  which  should  first 
of  all  make  itself  responsible  for  raising  the  parish  apportionment 
for  General  Missions,  and  while  developing  to  the  utmost  the  giving 


362  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

capacity  of  the  parish  in  the  cause  of  Missions  should  so  direct  the 
missionary  energies  of  the  congregation  as  to  avoid  conflicting  ap- 
peals. The  new  society  met  November  7,  1904,  elected  officers,  and 
recognized  itself  as  made  up  of  the  following  branches :  the  Clergy 
Branch,  the  Vestry  Branch,  the  Deaconess  Branch,  the  Woman's 
Branch,  the  Girls'  Friendly  Branch,  the  King's  Daughters  Branch, 
and  the  Sunday-school  Branch.  The  society  was  to  provide  for 
diocesan  and  city  missions  as  well  as  for  the  foreign  and  domestic 
missions  of  the  Church.  It  was  to  act  through  its  executive  com- 
mittee, which  was  constituted  of  appointed  representatives  from 
every  branch. 

In  the  midst  of  his  labors  Dr.  Rainsford's  health  gave  way.  As 
far  back  as  the  Holy  Week  of  1904  he  had  begun  to  feel  the  symp- 
toms of  a  general  breakdown  and  crossed  the  ocean  in  the  summer 
for  a  rest  and  change.  The  trip,  however,  failed  to  recruit  his 
strength,  as  after  his  return  pains  in  his  head  and  other  warnings 
urgently  admonished  him  to  go  away  till  fully  cured.  Loath  as  he 
was  to  leave  his  work,  he  yielded  to  the  peremptory  order  of  physi- 
cians and  sailed  for  Plymouth  on  December  10th  for  a  long  rest. 
His  stay  in  England  was  but  brief,  as  he  designed  to  find  some  quiet 
spot  in  southern  France  where  with  his  wife's  society  and  a  con- 
venient golf  course  he  might  hope  for  restoration  in  the  open  air. 

Responding  to  the  vestry's  invitation,  the  Bishops  of  New  York 
and  other  noted  preachers  filled  the  pulpit  on  successive  Sunday 
mornings.  The  workers  in  the  several  departments  took  pride  in 
doing  each  his  or  her  duty  conscientiously  and  with  redoubled 
energy.  The  vestry  recognized  in  this  emphatic  testimony  to  the 
firm  foundation  upon  which  the  splendid  structure  of  St.  George's 
parochial  activities  had  been  upreared.  Deprived  of  the  inspiring 
presence  of  the  master  builder,  the  workers  he  had  trained  wrought 
in  the  work  with  the  enthusiasm  he  had  aroused  in  them.  It  was  a 
striking  tribute  to  the  continuing  influence  of  his  personality. 

Reports  came  that  the  rector's  health  was  much  improved.  A 
letter  from  him  dated  Cortina  said  nothing  of  himself,  but  spoke 
appreciatively  of  how  the  Church  was  staunchly  steadfast  in  well- 
doing. But  in  October,  1905,  the  vestry,  having  "  learned  with 
great  regret  that  the  rector  is  unable  to  resume  personal  charge 
of  the  parish  during  the  present  winter,"  appointed  Rev.  Hugh 
Birckhead  of  the  staff  as  minister  in  charge,  subject  to  farther  action 
of  the  vestry,  his  salary  to  be  $3,500  from  October  1st. 

At  this  same  meeting  Mr.  Morgan  stated  that  it  having  become 
necessary  to  abandon  the  house  occupied  for  some  years  by  the 


^^^^B^^^  p^SBiBSiP  ^flW^ffBHlP 


f? 


WBftilfESSf 


I        I 

llf    llf 

I  J    ;■■■   .III, 


l!3LS         C 


i         I  -y-  > 


/iw  nl' 


ST.  George's  evening  trade-school,  i905 
505  East  Sixteenth   Street 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  363 

evening  Trade  School,  he  had  purchased  the  lot  No.  505  East  Six- 
teenth Street  and  erected  thereon  a  suitable  building  for  the  use  of 
the  school  which  he  now  tendered  to  the  Church  as  a  free  gift.  It 
was  thereupon  resolved  "  that  the  vestry  for  itself  and  in  behalf 
of  the  congregation  records  its  gratification  at  Mr.  Morgan's  gener- 
ous gift  of  the  substantial  and  commodious  building  he  has  provided 
for  this  important  feature  of  the  Church's  work  and  accepts  with 
thanks  the  deed  of  the  property." 

The  Trade  School  was  a  novelty  and  experiment  when  it  was 
undertaken  in  connection  with  the  Church.  But  during  the  twelve 
years  of  its  existence  it  had  not  only  wrought  incalculable  benefit 
to  many  hundreds  of  boys  and  young  men  who  had  participated 
in  its  exceptional  advantages  for  fitting  them  for  their  life  work, 
but  it  was  a  plain  object-lesson  of  what  might  be  done  if  the  public- 
school  system  could  embrace  industrial  education  in  its  curriculum. 
It  was  removed  to  its  new  building  in  the  fall  of  1905  and  its  facili- 
ties largely  increased.  The  original  classes  had  developed  into  six 
distinct  departments — wood-working,  mechanical  drawing,  printing, 
plumbing,  manual  training,  free-liand  drawing — and  in  each  of  these 
practice  and  theory  went  hand  in  hand  under  the  direction  and 
supervision  of  competent  paid  instructors. 

The  parish  lost  one  of  its  most  valued  friends  and  advisers  in  the 
death  of  Mr.  F.  H.  Betts,  which  occurred  November  11,  1905.  At 
its  meeting  in  the  following  month  the  vestry  adopted  the  following 
minute : 

Resolved,  That  the  Wardens  and  Vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church 
hereby  record  their  appreciation  of  the  character  and  virtues  of  their  late 
associate,  Frederic  H.  Betts.  Mr.  Betts'  sei-vices  to  the  parish  were  many 
and  varied — a  teacher  in  the  Avenue  A  Mission  and  afterward  in  the  main 
Sunday-school,  a  member  of  the  property  committee  of  the  vestiy  from 
1887  to  1891,  a  delegate  to  the  Diocesan  Convention  from  1890  until  his 
death,  clerk  of  the  vestiw  from  the  time  of  his  election  in  1886,  and  the 
legal  adviser  of  the  corporation.  He  fulfilled  liis  many  duties  with  fidelity 
and  loyal  spirit.  Mr.  Betts  was  generous,  high-minded,  and  genial,  and  the 
vestiy  affectionately  inscribes  in  its  minutes  this  tribute  to  liis  memory 
and  expresses  the  sense  of  the  loss  it  has  sustained  in  his  death. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  vestry  at  the  residence  of  the  senior  warden, 
Februarj'-  2,  1906,  there  was  presented  and  read  the  following  letter : 

Cairo,  Egypt,  January  7,  1906. 
J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Esq.,  Senior  Warden,  St.  George's  Church. 
Dear  Mr.  Morgan: 

Almost  a  year  ago  I  wrote  to  you  saying  that  I  greatly  feared  my  health 
would  not  permit  of  my  returning  to  St.  George's,  but  that  for  the  future 
I  must  be  content  to  do  easier  work. 


364  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

I  am  better  now  than  I  was  then,  but  I  have  definitely  concluded  that 
I  have  not  strength  enough  to  continue  in  the  rectorship — no  crippled 
man  can  do  for  St.  George's  what  its  head  should  do.  You  know  better 
than  any  one  in  all  my  parish  probably  what  it  costs  me  to  write  this — • 
to  sever  the  bands  that  have  bound  me  for  twenty-three  years  to  you  all 
is  beyond  words  a  bitter  task. 

In  fulfilling  it  I  am  only  consoled  by  the  knowledge  that  some  of  the 
thing's  achieved  during  my  rectorship  must  make  for  the  good  of  the 
Church  of  God  at  large  in  the  United  States. 

What  has  been  accomplished  is  imder  God  largely  due  to  such  a  happy 
and  continuous  co-opei-ation  of  congregation,  vestry,  and  clergj'  as,  I 
venture  to  think,  has  seldom  been  achieved  anywhere. 

You,  dear  sir,  have  perhaps  done  more  in  aiding  my  work  than  any  one 
else  in  a  great  band  of  fellow-workers  where  all  were  brethren.  To  you 
therefore,  not  as  my  senior  warden  only,  but  as  my  tried  and  valued 
friend,  T  commit  this  definite  resignation  from  a  i^ost,  the  holding  of  which 
has  been  as  much  a  delight  as  it  has  been  an  honor. 

To  all  the  members  of  my  staff,  my  vestry,  and  my  congregation  I  give 
my  love  and  sincerest  thanks.  I  never  can  repay  you  all  for  what  you  have 
been  to  me — or  for  what  you  have  helped  me  to  do. 

1  remain  ever  yours  most  affectionately, 

W.  S.  Rainsford. 

The  following  preambles  and  resolutions  were  thereupon  adopted : 

Whereas  the  Vestry  has  received  a  communication  from  Dr.  Rainsford 
stating  that  failure  to  recover  physical  strength,  despite  his  long  rest, 
necessitates  his  retirement  from  active  service  and  presenting  his  resigna- 
tion as  the  Rector  of  the  parish,  and 

Whereas  this  communication  sadly  and  unexpectedly  puts  an  end  to  our 
anxious  hope  that  he  would  ultimately  be  able  to  resume  his  pastorate  and 
leaves  the  vestry  in  view  of  his  already  long  absence  from  active  duty  no 
alternative  but  to  acquiesce  in  his  decision,  therefore 

Besolved,  that  the  resignation  of  the  Rev.  William  S.  Rainsford,  D.D., 
Rector  of  St.  George's  parish  dated  from  Cairo,  Egj'pt,  January  7,  1906, 
be  accepted,  albeit  reluctantly  and  with  profound  regret,  and  that  the 
salary  which  he  has  heretofore  received  in  his  official  capacity  be  continued 
until  the  first  of  July  proximo. 

Resolved,  that  the  following  minute  be  inscribed  on  the  records  of  the 
vestry  with  devout  gratitude  to  God  for  the  gift  of  such  a  pastoi'ate: 

The  Rev.  William  S.  Rainsford  became  Rector  of  St.  George's  parish  in 
1883.  He  was  then  thirty-two  years  of  age,  of  splendid  physique  and  in 
robust  health.  When  he  assumed  his  charge  the  church  was  practically 
without  a  congregation,  with  limited  facilities  for  parish  work,  with  small 
endowment,  and  with  a  reputation  in  the  diocese  that  was  little  more  than 
a  tribute  to  a  memorable  past.  He  lays  down  his  charge  after  twenty-three 
years  of  exhausting  labor,  impaired  in  health  by  the  burden  of  a  cure  of 
7,000  souls,  with  the  Endowment  Fund  increased  by  $300,000 ;  with  a  parish 
building  complete  in  accommodation  and  equipment  and  which  is  a  model 
of  successful  and  useful  operation ;  with  a  Deaconess  House,  a  Trade 
School,  and  a  seaside  cottage;  with  an  official  force  of  twenty  men  and 


THE    RAINSFORD     PERIOD  365 

women,  an  army  of  volunteer  workers  unsurpassed  in  numbers,  intelligence, 
and  devotion,  and  with  a  reputation  acquired  for  the  parish  as  extended 
as  American  Christianity-.  His  name  is  written  large  in  the  annals  of  our 
religious  and  civic  life,  and  he  will  be  followed  in  his  retirement  by  the 
affectionate  solicitude  for  his  welfare  of  the  congregation  that  he  gathered 
and  by  the  respect  of  the  many  who  prohted  by  his  teaching  and  by  his 
personal  ministration. 

Resolved,  that  an  engrossed  copy  of  this  preamble  and  the  resolutions 
attached  be  sent  to  Rev.  Dr.  Rainsford  and  that  this  minute  be  published 
in  the  Church  papers. 

Impressed  with  the  importance  of  speedy  action  in  the  choice 
of  a  successor  and  the  wisdom  of  securing  one  whose  knowledge 
of  the  methods  which  had  made  the  parish  so  signally  efficient  and 
successful  would  secure  their  practical  continuance,  the  vestry 
unanimously  elected  at  this  same  meeting,  February  2d,  the  Rev. 
Hugh  Birckhead  as  rector  of  St.  George's  Church,  the  salary  being 
fixed  for  the  time  being  at  $6,000.  Mr.  Cutting  and  Mr.  Low  were 
designated  as  a  committee  to  inform  the  congregation  at  the  next 
Sunday  morning's  service  of  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Rainsford,  of 
its  acceptance  by  the  vestry,  and  also  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Birck- 
head as  the  rector  of  the  Church. 

The  rectorship  of  Dr.  Rainsford  was  the  evolution  of  an  epoch  in 
St.  George's  history.  It  was  a  re-creation  of  the  parish  on  new 
lines  with  new  material  and  with  new  results.  His  predecessor.  Dr. 
Tyng,  was,  like  himself,  gifted  in  a  superlative  degree  with  the 
constructive  faculty  and  both  created  congregations  and  left  their 
impress  upon  widely  differing  products.  One  cannot  read  the 
record  of  their  respective  ministries  without  a  feeling  that  the  at- 
mosphere and  the  environment  are  utterly  unlike.  The  older  min- 
istries of  Dr.  Milnor  and  of  Dr.  Tyng  were  both  of  the  old  evan- 
gelical type  to  which  the  broader  ministry  of  Dr.  Rainsford  stands 
in  plainest  contrast.  Each  had  a  clearly  marked  constituency.  The 
Beekman  Street  people,  to  whom  the  first  of  the  great  rectors  min- 
istered, were  the  ingathered  product  of  the  old-fashioned  methods, 
and  what  was  left  of  them  was  but  the  nucleus  of  the  great  con- 
gregation which  Dr.  Tyng  assembled  round  him  in  Stuyvesant 
Square,  just  as  the  few  that  were  left  of  these  served  only  as  the 
nucleus  around  which  Dr.  Rainsford  collected  such  large  numbers 
of  new  followers.  There  was  in  each  of  the  two  great  transitions  a 
period  of  decadence  followed  by  a  period  of  upbuilding.  The  wor- 
shipers in  Beekman  Street  were  moving  rapidly  aAvay  up-town  in 
the  last  years  of  Dr.  Milnor 's  time,  with  the  result  of  lessened  in- 


366  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

come  with  decreasing  numbers.  A  new  St.  George's  edifice  and  a 
fresh  gathered  congregation  were  the  result  of  Dr.  Tyng's  signal 
constructive  power.  Then  the  same  process,  as  in  the  previous  gen- 
eration, wrought  havoc  with  what  was  in  every  aspect  of  the  case  a 
wonderfully  prosperous  parish.  The  people  moved  away  up-town. 
or  to  the  suburbs  and  again  decadence  held  full  sway.  The  esti- 
mable clergyman  who  came  to  Dr.  Tyng's  assistance  and  for  a  few 
years  held  the  post  as  rector  was  impotent  to  stay  the  tide.  It  must 
and  did  run  out.  The  people  who  had  been  moving  into  the  St. 
George's  neighborhood  could  not  be  reached  by  the  old  current 
methods  and  a  new  departure  was  imperative.  The  situation  Avas 
perplexing,  critical.  But  happily  the  Vestry  of  St.  George's  were 
"  men  that  had  understanding  of  the  times  to  know  what  Israel 
ought  to  do  "  and  God  provided  them  a  man  fitted  to  meet  the  ex- 
igency. 

Forthwith  the  process  was  begun  which  shaped  St.  George's  into 
a  modern  church  of  the  institutional  kind.  It  was  a  gradual  evolu- 
tion. Methods  were  tried  and  if  found  wanting  modified.  But 
seething  at  the  outset  in  the  heart  and  brain  of  Dr.  Rainsford  were 
aims  and  plans  to  bless  his  fellow-men  which,  based  on  fixed  and 
leading  principles,  led  to  success.  The  underlying  secret  of  his 
power  lay  in  his  consecrated  personality,  alive  to  the  needs  of  the 
age  and  in  sympathetic  touch  therewith,  believing  with  all  the  in- 
tensity of  his  nature  that  the  Gospel  of  Christ  is  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation,  individual,  social,  and  national.  That  the  Gospel 
has  a  mission  to  the  whole  man,  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  and  that  the 
Church  should  be  the  mightiest  force  to  save  society  were  recog- 
nized by  him  as  fundamental  principles.  In  his  wise  and  steady 
application  of  them  to  the  problems  of  St.  George's  he  was  most 
fortunate  in  having  first  a  vestry  loyal,  united,  sympathetic,  trust- 
ful, and  ready  always  to  devise  the  ways  and  means  for  carrying 
on  the  work.  And  he  was  further  fortunate  in  being  able  to  at- 
tract about  him  willing  helpers  who  were  content  to  do  what  their 
hands  found  to  do  with  their  best  might  in  consecration  of  their 
time  and  energy  and  means  to  make  the  work  effective.  It  is  this 
principle  of  devoted  co-operation  which  has  been  the  chief  practical 
element  in  securing  the  achieved  results  at  St.  George's.  That  a 
rector  should  be  left  to  do  the  preaching  and  the  visiting  and  what- 
ever good  he  might  without  the  active,  helpful,  self-sacrificing  as- 
sistance of  his  people  is  an  obsolete  and  quite  impossible  idea  gauged 
by  the  modern  standards  of  a  Church's  highest  influences.  For 
the  principle  of  co-operative  endeavor  is  vital  in  the  work  of  an 


THE    RAINSFORD    PERIOD  367 

Institutional  Church.  Every  man,  woman,  and  child  connected  with 
it  must  have  and  feel  that  he  or  she  has  a  place  in  the  parish,  with 
a  consequent  personal  responsibility  for  the  faithful  performance 
of  the  functions  of  that  place.  Attendance  at  worship  would  nat- 
urally be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  regularity  in  this  will 
not  advance  a  parishioner  above  the  grade  of  "  hearers  only  " 
whereas  all  should  be  also  "  doers  of  the  word,"  doers  in  co- 
operation with  the  rector  and  one's  fellow- workers  in  furtherance 
of  the  parish  plans  and  purposes.  There  therefore  comes  to  be  a 
corporate  life  to  which  each  one  contributes  and  which  in  turn  en- 
courages and  stimulates  the  individual  worker. 

The  impressions  of  a  Sunday  in  St.  George's  caused  one  who 
signed  himself  "  An  English  Pilgrim,"  writing  in  The  Churchman 
of  January,  1903,  to  say : 

At  St.  George's  the  visitor  is  at  once  impressed  with  the  idea  that  a  con- 
gregation not  only  consists  of  worshipers,  but  is  a  body  of  worshipers. 
Perhaps  this  emphasis  of  the  corporate  idea  had  something  to  do  with  the 
greater  interest  shown  in  the  congregational  singing.  Somehow  or  other 
there  was  here  a  certain  indefinable  sense  of  brotherhood  and  fellowship 
that  one  does  not  always  find  in  a  Christian  church. 

That  was  a  tine  impression  to  be  produced  upon  a  stranger,  and 
his  tribute  to  the  felt  presence  of  the  corporate  idea  attests  the  deep 
hold  which  it  has  upon  St.  George's  life. 

One  of  the  principles  by  which  this  sense  of  corporate  life  is 
created  is  to  aim  to  make  each  member  of  the  parish  feel  that  he 
or  she  is  so  essentially  a  part  of  it  as  that  the  church  is  theirs,  where 
they  all  mingle  upon  equal  terms  and  that  each  one  of  them  has  an 
individual  responsibility  to  work  in  it  and  for  it  and  to  help  support 
it.  As  one  means  to  this  end  great  emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  '  *  moral 
significance  of  money  "  which  is  frankly  brought  to  every  one's 
attention,  all  being  asked  to  do  their  share  in  giving  through  the  en- 
velopes to  support  the  church  and  through  dues  or  contributions 
to  maintain  the  separate  organizations  with  which  each  is  connected. 
So  everybody  pays;  and  while,  of  course,  what  each  receives  in  its 
intrinsic  value  cannot  be  measured  by  the  dollars  of  his  outlay — 
just  as  tuition  fees  in  college  or  hospital  charges  leave  out  of  ac- 
count the  value  of  the  plant  of  which  the  student  or  the  patient 
enjoys  the  benefit — still,  as  everybody  pays,  they  are  lifted  out  of 
the  category  of  passive  beneficiaries  and  become  active  co-operators 
in  building  up  their  church  and  making  it  a  power  for  good.  As 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Hodges  aptly  says : 

The  state  of  mind  of  the  man  who  is  contributing  to  the  support  of  an 
institution  is  wholly  different  from  the  state  of  mind  of  the  man  who  is 


368  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

being  supported  by  an  institution.  The  act  of  giving  has  a  moral,  trans- 
forming, regenerating  value.  There  are  a  number  of  men  in  St.  George's 
parish  who  could  easilj'  pay  all  of  the  expenses.  Nothing  could  be  more 
mifortunate  than  such  a  misjudged  kindness.  There  are  parishes  in  which 
that  thing  has  been  done,  where  a  rich  rector  pays  his  own  salary,  or  a 
rich  vesti-y  make  up  the  annual  deficit  on  Easter  Monday  out  of  their  own 
pockets.  15ut  these  are  weak  parishes  to  which  the  parishioners  are  at- 
tached but  loosely,  According  to  the  St.  George's  plan,  the  people  are 
an  integral  part  of  the  parish.  It  is  a  co-oj^erative  institution,  like  a 
factory  in  which  every  employee  has  a  share  in  the  business.  And  this  is 
effected  by  the  fact  of  contribution. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  danger,  in  striving  to  create  an  Institutional 
Churcli,  of  over-organization  on  the  part  of  zealous  rectors  who  are 
ambitious  to  multiply  parochial  activities  more  rapidly  than  is 
judicious.  And  the  increase  of  agencies  which  is  not  a  development 
evoked  by  the  real  openings  of  opportunity  is  apt  to  degenerate 
into  what  Dr.  Eainsford  aptly  phrased  as  "  the  ceaseless  rattle  of 
religious  machinery."  But  if  there  is,  as  in  Ezekiel's  Vision,  "  the 
spirit  of  life  within  the  wheels  "  the  working  machinery,  however 
elaborate,  will  be  instinct  with  power  and  productive  of  spiritual 
results.  How  admirably  this  was  the  case  in  St.  George's  is  well 
told  by  Dr.  Hodges: 

It  is  essential  to  the  life  of  a  strong  parish  to  combine  with  all  this 
organization  the  fervor  of  a  religious  spirit.  Of  all  Dr.  Rainsford's  con- 
tributions to  the  parish  this  is  the  most  important  and  the  most  charac- 
teristic. He  made  an  institutional  church  of  which  nobody  has  ever  com- 
plained that  the  gj^mnasium  is  more  conspicuous  than  the  chancel.  He 
kept  the  perspective  true.  He  set  forward  the  social  mission  of  the  chui'ch 
without  minirrdzing  its  spiritual  mission.  Both  the  social  and  the  spiritual 
are  indeed  included  in  the  ideal  of  religion  which  He  proclaimed  who  sent 
His  disciples  to  preach  the  Gosjiel  of  the  Kingdom  and  to  heal  the  sick. 
They  were  to  minister  to  the  whole  man,  body  and  soul  alike.  The  teacher 
in  the  sewing-school  is  engaged  in  a  religious  occupation  quite  as  valid 
as  the  teacher  in  the  Sianday-school  and  may  thereby  accomplish  quite  as 
much  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  God.  But  while  in  body  man  is 
akin  to  the  animals  in  soul  he  is  akin  to  God.  The  soul  is  the  man,  not 
the  body.  Whatever  changes,  awakens,  overjoj's  the  soul  makes  a  different 
man.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  best  progress  the  material  is  of  inter- 
est and  value  because  it  affects  the  spiritual.  It  is  also  true  that  the 
spiritual  dominates,  determines,  ti'ansforms  the  material.  The  most  neces- 
sary amendment  of  social  conditions,  even  in  their  most  depressing  phases, 
is  not  that  which  produces  a  better  house,  but  that  which  produces  a  better 
man  to  live  in  the  house.  To  this  end  all  the  material  betterment  is  sub- 
ordinate; in  part,  it  contributes  to  spiritual  betterment  and  in  part  it  de- 
pends upon  it.  Thus  Dr.  Rainsford  said  that  the  best  thing  wliich  can 
be  done  for  the  reformation  of  a  bad  neighborhood  is  to  ]:)lant  in  the  midst 
of  it,  not  a  model  tenement,  not  a  school,  but  a  church.     With  a  good 


THE     RAINSFORD     PERIOD  369 

church  all  other  good  things  would  logically  follow.  And  by  a  good  church 
he  meant  one  which  by  its  brotherly  interest  in  the  whole  life  of  its  neigh- 
bors gains  their  confidence  and  affection  and  then  upon  the  basis  of  this 
gain  gains  them.  Such  a  church  he  organized.  It  was  never  a  parish 
house  with  a  church  attached;  nor  was  it  a  church  with  a  parish  house 
attached.  It  was  a  church,  a  place  of  religion,  expressing  itself  in  all 
these  various  ways.  Thus  one  notices  that  every  organization  is  vitally 
connected  with  the  church,  as  the  branch  to  the  tree.  New  members  of  the 
organizations  are  received  by  the  initiation  of  a  service  of  prayer  in  the 
church.  The  ultimate  object  of  every  organization  is  not  to  amuse,  nor 
even  to  instruct,  but  to  bind  the  members  closer  to  the  church.  At  the 
heart  of  all  the  parish  arteries  are  devout  men  and  women  who  are  both 
working  and  praying,  doing  all  that  they  do  as  Christian  folk  for  Christ's 
sake.  Dr.  Rainsford  made  St.  George's  what  it  is  to-day,  not  only  by  his 
administrative  ability,  but  by  his  religious  fervor,  by  his  zeal  for  God,  by 
his  concern  for  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Without  that  the  institutional 
church  may  be  a  foolish  and  complicated  waste  of  time.  With  that  the 
institutional  church  even  in  the  hardslui:)s  of  poverty,  with  crude  machinery 
and  incompetent  workmen,  will  be  a  j^ower  for  good.  This  is  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  St.  George's  plan. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP 

(1906-1911) 

The  Birckhead  rectorship  was  thus  auspiciously  begun,  it  being 
the  unanimous  conviction  of  the  vestry  that  the  plans  and  methods 
of  administering  the  parish  devised  by  Dr.  Rainsford,  which  had 
proved  so  effective,  would  be  best  perpetuated  and  developed  by  one 
who  was  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  them  and  had  been  so  identified 
with  their  spirit  and  practical  operation.  At  the  first  meeting  of 
the  vestry  after  the  election  the  following  letter  was  presented : 

St,  Paul's  School,  Concord,  N.  H.,  Feb.  11th,  1906. 
To  John  Pierpont  Morgan,  Esq.,  Senior  Warden  of  St.  George's  Churchy 

New  York. 
My  dear  Mr.  Morgan: 

In  answer  to  the  call  of  the  vestry  of  Saint  George's  Church  to  become 
its  rector,  tendered  me  by  its  wardens  on  the  morning  of  Sunday,  Feb- 
mary  the  fourth,  I  would  say  that  in  contemplating  this  call  I  halve  been 
influenced  by  the  following  considerations: 

First,  that  I  share  with  the  congregation  of  St.  George's  Church,  in  a 
peculiar  sense,  their  deep  and  lasting  resjDeet  and  affection  for  Dr.  Rains- 
ford.  ^ 

Second,  that  I  feel  keenly  with  the  vestry  that  the  work  of  St.  George's 
Church  should  be  continued  along  the  lines  that  have  been  laid  down,  and 
that  by  one  who  has  learned  somewhat  of  the  method  and  spirit  of  the 
late  rector. 

Third,  that  I  recognize  the  call  of  the  vestry  of  St.  George's  Church 
to  become  its  rector  to  be  the  call  of  God  Himself,  and  that  a  refusal  of 
it  for  mere  personal  considerations  would  be  at  once  moral  cowardice  and 
disloyalty  to  the  vows  of  my  ordination. 

I  therefore  heartily  accept  the  call  of  the  vestry  of  St.  George's  Church 
to  become  its  rector  upon  the  following  conditions : 

First,  that  the  vestry  bear  in  mind  that  in  accepting  this  call  I  am 
relying  entirely  upon  their  unanimous  desire  and  judgment  as  to  my  tak- 
ing this  office  and  not  on  my  own. 

Second,  that  the  vestry  give  me  the  same  moral  and  financial  support 
that  they  have  given  Dr.  Rainsford  in  carrying  on  the  work  of  the  parish. 

Third,  that  I  shall  have  the  same  authority  that  was  vested  in  the  late 


/^/^Cy(:>/6^ii.i__ 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  371 

rector  in  making  such  changes  as  may  seem  fitting  and  necessary  in  the 
services  and  organizations  of  the  Church  and  parish  and  in  matters  relating 
to  clerical  supply  after  consultation  with  the  vestry. 

Looking  forward  to  many  years  of  sympathetic  co-operation  with  you 
in  the  work  of  our  Father's  Kingdom,  I  am, 

Faithfully  yours, 

Hugh  Birckhead. 

The  senior  warden  stated  that  the  canonical  certificate  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Birckhead 's  election  had  been  delivered  to  the  Bishop 
Coadjutor. 

The  rector  then  expressed  himself  as  follows :  ' '  The  rector  at  his 
first  meeting  of  the  vestry  desires  to  express  his  deep  sense  of  the 
kindness  with  which  personally  he  has  been  received  by  its  members 
and  the  confidence  they  have  seen  fit  to  place  in  one  so  young.  He 
asks  their  prayers  and  criticisms  on  his  behalf." 

Mr.  Morgan  stated  that  there  ought  to  be  a  house  for  the  superin- 
tendent on  the  Church  grounds  at  Rockaway  and  offered,  if  the 
vestry  would  allow  him,  to  pay  for  the  same.  His  offer  was  grate- 
fully accepted  and  the  thanks  of  the  vestry  tendered  for  his  generous 
offer.    The  cost  of  the  house  when  completed  was  $7,245. 

In  the  year  book  of  1906  the  rector  writes : 

This  year  has  proved  to  many  of  us  what  a  real  place  St.  George's 
occupies  in  our  lives.  As  long  as  the  existence  of  this  work  seemed  assured 
many  of  us  took  its  worth  as  a  matter  of  course;  but  as  soon  as  its  con- 
tmuance  was  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  withdrawal  of  our  great  head  worker, 
each  one  of  us  faced  the  possibility  of  losing  the  St.  George's  we  had 
known,  and  each  keenly  realized,  on  looking  back  along  the  years,  how  the 
spirit  of  this  place  had  become  a  part  of  our  best  selves.  If  the  great 
fabric  which  Dr.  Eainsford  built  with  so  many  years  of  splendid  patient 
service  is  to  last,  we  as  a  congregation  must  feel  that  the  burden  of  it 
rests  now  on  our  shoulders.  The  future  of  St.  George's,  under  the  guidance 
of  God,  is  ours,  eveiy  one  of  us,  to  make  or  to  mar,  and,  God  willing,  we 
will  carry  the  work  forward  along  the  lines  of  breadth  and  sanity  that 
have  been  laid  down  in  the  past  to  realms  of  greater  usefulness  to  the  city 
and  the  Church  of  God. 

The  rector  informed  the  vestry  at  the  meeting  of  December  19, 
1906,  that  money  for  the  establishment  of  a  camp  for  St.  George's 
parish  at  Blackball,  Connecticut,  had  been  offered  to  the  Church 
by  Mr.  "Wolcott  G.  Lane  and  his  friends;  Which  offer  was  accepted 
and  the  thanks  of  the  vestry  tendered  to  Mr.  Lane  and  his  friends 
for  their  liberal  gift.  A  fresh-air  work  had  been  carried  on  in  this 
locality  for  several  years  for  a  selected  group  of  Trade  School  boys 
to  provide  them  with  a  wholesome  outing  during  the  summer.  The 
liberality  of  the  Lane  family  and  others  now  insured  the  permanence 


372  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

of  this  useful  work,  and  the  name  of  Camp  Rainsford  was  most 
fittingly  attached  to  it  as  having  to  do  with  boys,  religion,  and  out- 
door life.  The  cost  of  the  new  camp,  including  the  equipment,  was 
$6,937.75.  The  property  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Church 
under  a  lease  at  an  annual  rent  of  one  dollar  for  a  term  of  ten  years 
from  January  30,  1907.  The  camp  accommodates  about  forty-five 
boys,  who  stay  for  two  weeks  at  a  time  during  the  summer  months. 

The  large  organ  was  found  to  be  in  bad  condition  in  April,  1906, 
and  the  property  committee  was  authorized  to  make  the  necessary 
repairs  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $3,000,  which  sum  was  proposed  to 
be  raised  by  a  special  collection  on  the  second  Sunday  in  May. 

The  desirability  that  St.  George 's  Church  should  plan  to  co-operate 
in  raising  money  for  the  Missionary  Thank  Offering  to  be  presented 
by  the  men  of  the  whole  Church  at  the  General  Convention  to  be 
held  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  in  1907,  in  commemoration  of  the  first 
Holy  Communion  celebrated  in  an  English  colony  in  North  America 
at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  in  the  year  1607,  was  brought  before  the 
vestry  by  the  rector  in  November,  1906.  So  efficiently  was  co- 
operation secured  that  the  offering  from  St.  George's  parish 
amounted  to  $112,116.02,  which  included  a  gift  from  the  senior 
warden  of  $100,000. 

The  collection  for  theological  education  was  ordered  at  this  same 
meeting  to  be  hereafter  made  on  the  second  Sunday  in  December, 
and  the  treasurer  was  authorized  to  pay  the  amount  of  the  collection 
to  the  rector.  The  total  amount  received  was  $3,274.66,  which  was 
appropriated  and  paid  over  by  the  rector  to  the  Cambridge  Divinity 
School. 

The  rector  expressed  his  intention  of  giving  during  the  winter 
in  the  church  some  special  musical  services  and  asked  that  part  of 
the  collections  taken  at  these  services  should  be  appropriated  to 
defraying  the  expenses  of  the  same ;  which  request  the  vestry  acceded 
to  in  authorizing  an  equal  division  of  the  amounts  collected  between 
the  expenses  of  the  music  and  the  treasury  of  the  Church.  The 
organist,  Mr.  Homer  Norris,  in  his  annual  report  in  the  spring  of 
1 907,  thus  records  the  execution  of  the  plan : 

We  have  given  two  remarkably  fine  special  musical  services.  On  the 
evening  of  November  24th  we  sang  Spohr's  '  Last  Judgment.'  The  work 
was  so  greatly  admired  that  the  rector  asked  us  to  repeat  it  on  the  evening 
of  December  29th.  On  the  evening  of  April  5th  we  sang  '  The  Seven 
"Words  of  Christ,'  by  Theodore  Dubois,  accompanied  by  the  full  Russian 
Symphony  orchestra.  The  work  made  a  profound  impression.  The  giving 
of  these  two  cantatas  proved  what  I  wrote  in  my  last  year's  report,  to 
the  effect  tliat  when  the  choir  prepares  a  '  special '  musical  ser\4ce  it  needs 


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THE     BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  373 

the  stimulus  of  a  eoroposition  presenting  difficulties  to  overcome.  Con- 
cerning the  performance  of  the  '  Last  Judgment '  a  parishioner  wrote  to 
the  rector  the  following :  '  I  must  send  to  you  my  cordial  congratulations 
on  the  way  in  which  the  choir  sang  the  difficult  music  of  Spohr's  '  Last 
Judgment.'  In  former  times  the  singing  was  hearty,  but  it  was  what  a 
choir-master  would  call  '  rough,'  or  '  ragged,'  but  yesterday  you  had  pure 
intonation,  precision,  refinement  of  style,  and  plenty  of  power.  ...  I 
know  something  of  what  the  difficulties  are  in  obtaining  good  singing 
from  a  voluntary  choir,  but  you  really  have  done  this  at  St.  George's.' 
Another  parishioner,  who  was  formerly  a  choir-master  in  a  prominent 
parish,  wrote  the  following  regarding  the  performance  of  the  '  Seven 
Words  of  Christ ' :  '  We  were  much  impressed  with  the  beauty  of  it.  The 
music  itself  is  very  fine,  impressive,  dramatic,  and  beautiful,  and  it  was 
beautifully  given ;  the  choii'  sang  superbly.' 

The  lamented  death  of  John  Noble  Stearns  occasioned  a  special 
meeting  of  the  vestry  on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  March  17,  1907,  at 
which  the  following  minute  was  ordered  to  be  entered  on  the  records 
of  the  Church: 

John  Noble  Stearns  died  March  14,  1907,  in  the  seventy-seventh  year 
of  his  age.  From  his  boyhood  a  worshiper  at  St.  George's  Church,  a 
teacher  in  its  Sunday-schools  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life;  vestryman 
for  nineteen  years  and  junior  warden  for  seventeen  years — in  his  death 
we  have  been  bereft  of  an  associate  whose  like  we  shall  not  see  again. 
His  loyalty  to  St.  George's  in  adversity  and  prosperity  alike,  his  gen- 
erosity, his  judicious  counsel,  his  rare  amiability  of  temperament,  combined 
to  give  him  an  eminence  among  us  that  he  never  sought.  In  paying  this- 
tribute  to  his  honored  memory,  the  members  of  the  vestry  record  their 
grateful  appreciation  of  the  privilege  they  have  enjoyed  of  association 
with  him  in  the  service  of  God  at  St.  George's  Church,  and  direct  that  the 
remarkable  record  of  the  ancestors  and  relatives  of  Mr.  Stearns  and  of 
Mr.  Steams  himself  be  entered  in  the  minutes  as  an  evidence  of  the  loss 
to  the  parish  incurred  by  his  death. 

They  also  direct  that  a  copy  of  this  minute,  with  the  record  attached,  be 
sent  to  the  family  of  Mr.  Stearns,  with  a  message  of  affectionate  sympathy, 
and  that  both  resolution  and  record  be  printed  in  The  Churchman. 

Mr.  Stearns  had  personally  known  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor  and  the 
^our  succeeding  rectors,  and  his  long  life  of  loving  service  had  been 
no  inconspicuous  element  in  shaping  the  parochial  history.  The 
remarkable  record  of  his  family's  connection  with  the  parish  re- 
ferred to  in  the  vestry  minute  shows  that  his  maternal  grandfather, 
Cornelius  Schermerhorn,  was  a  vestryman  fi'om  the  organization  of 
the  parish  November,  1811,  to  Easter,  1820;  his  grandfather.  Dr. 
John  Stearns,  vestryman  1823  to  1835  and  warden  1835  to  1848; 
his  uncle,  John  Noble,  vestryman  1832  to  1834;  his  uncle,  Adolphus 
Lane,   vestryman   1841   to   1855   aud  warden  from   1855   to   1871. 


374  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Hiram  Ketchum,  his  grand-uncle,  was  vestryman  from  1846  to  1848 
and  George  C.  Satterlee,  a  relative,  was  vestryman  from  1862  to 
1872. 

Among  the  points  of  interest  in  the  year  book  of  1907  may  be 
noted  the  rector's  earnest  desire  to  perpetuate  his  predecessor's 
plan  of  utilizing  the  splendid  organization  of  St.  George's  parish 
for  the  training  of  young  clergymen,  which  Dr.  Rainsford  regarded 
as  "  his  greatest  contribution  to  the  American  Church,"  Though 
the  frequent  changes  in  the  personnel  of  the  staff  involved  in  carry- 
ing on  this  plan  was  hard  for  the  rector  in  parting  with  tried 
workers  and  not  altogether  agreeable  to  the  congregation  to  be 
accepting  ministrations  from  a  succession  of  young  clergymen,  still 
Mr.  Birckhead  urged  the  people  to  continue  to  receive  the  new 
assistants  into  their  homes  and  lives,  which  practice  he  regarded  as 
''  a  part  of  their  membership  as  much  as  contributing  through  the 
envelope  system."  He  called  attention  to  the  gradual  but  steady 
change  in  the  character  of  the  East  Side  population.  The  driving 
out  of  the  old  German  element,  which  had  been  so  largely  con- 
tributive  to  the  constituency  of  the  parish,  by  the  incoming  Italians 
and  others,  presented  a  problem  which  had  got  to  be  frankly  faced. 
He  referred  with  satisfaction  to  the  enthusiasm  of  the  nearly  five 
hundred  volunteer  workers  in  the  Church  who  *'  made  the  great 
machinery  of  the  parish  possible  and  permanent."  Their  gatherings 
for  conference  and  to  hear  reports  of  the  conditions  of  the  several 
organizations  tended  to  unity  and  confidence.  The  need  of  a  chapel 
in  the  parochial  equipment  he  declared  to  be  a  long  felt  and  pressing 
one.  So  many  uses  could  be  profitably  made  of  it.  It  was  the 
first  suggestion  of  what  is  now  so  happily  incarnated  in  the  Memorial 
Chapel. 

The  finances  in  the  first  year  of  the  new  rectorship  presented 
gratifying  figures.  The  following  record  of  receipts  is  taken  from 
the  treasurer's  report  of  March  31,  1907,  and  are  exclusive  of  the 
income  from  the  permanent  fund : 

Received  from  the  envelopes,  $21,176.94;  from  plate  collections,  $3,206.86; 
for  Parish  Missions,  $14,034.71;  for  support  of  Deaconess  House,  $8,858.15; 
for  support  of  Seaside  Cottage,  $4,274.07;  for  Poor  Fund,  $2,137.51;  for 
extras,  ,$6,526.49;  for  the  Endowment  Fund,  $2,914.48;  for  special  objects, 
$4,376.96;  for  missionary  purposes,  $8,352.37;  for  Men's  Missionarv  Thank 
Offering,  $5,080.75;  total,  $80,939.29. 

By  thie  rector  and  treasurers  of  the  organizations  the  following  were 
received:  By  the  rector  for  the  Rector's  Fund,  $2,850.10;  for  the  Thanks- 
giving Fund,  $49;  for  the  Christmas  Festival,  $937;  for  the  Easter  Flowers, 
$306;  total,  $4,142.10.     Otherwise  received:   Women's  Industrial   Society, 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  375 

$1,638.19;  Men's  Club,  $2,071.68;  Girls'  Friendly  Society,  $1,150.77;  Mar- 
ried Women's  Society,  $952.38;  Battalion,  $982.53;  Boys'  Industrial  Trade 
School,  $4,275;  Superintendent's  Cottage,  Rockaway,  building  of,  $7,245; 
Camp  Rainsford,  building  of,  $6,937.75;  total,  $25,853.31.  Tt)tal  amount 
raised  for  the  year  1906-07,  $110,934.69. 

That  the  International  Exposition  in  Paris  should  award  to  St. 
George's  Church,  New  York,  a  Grand  Prix  for  its  socialized  work 
is  worthy  of  record: 

IRev.  Hugh  Birchhead. 
My  deae  Sir  : 

It  gives  me  sincere  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  the  International  Jury 
in  Social  Economy,  on  my  recommendation,  made  you  the  award  of  a 
Grand  Prix  for  the  socialized  work  in  St.  George's. 

With  appreciation  of  your  valued  co-operation  in  sending  this  exhibit 
for  our  section  I  am. 

Very  Sincerely, 

'Wm.  H.  Tolman,  Com.  General,  Amer.  Section. 

Exposition  Internationale,  July-Oct.,  1907,  Paris,  France. 

The  exhibit  referred  to  in  this  official  notification  consisted  of 
photographs  of  the  parish  activities,  pamphlets,  year  books,  tabular 
matter,  and  the  book.  The  Administration  of  an  Institutional 
Church — a  detailed  account  of  the  operation  of  St.  George's  Church 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  by  George  Hodges  and  John  Eeichert.  The 
* '  Grand  Prix  ' '  was  awarded  for  this  exhibit,  and  the  ' '  Diplome  de 
Medaille  d'Or  "  specifically  mentions  the  book.  This  invaluable 
work  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  published  by  Harper  & 
Brothers  in  1906,  was  undertaken  in  response  to  innumerable  re- 
quests for  information  as  to  the  methods  which  had  proved  so 
effective  and  successful  in  building  up  a  magnificently  organized 
parish  in  new  and  trying  conditions.  The  book  embodies  the  results 
of  many  years'  experience.  It  is  a  full  description  of  concrete 
methods  by  which  an  Institutional  Church  has  been  created  and 
developed.  It  gives  the  finished  product,  arrived  at  through  experi- 
ments and  progressive  betterment,  of  detailed  plans  and  directions 
by  which  desirable  results  have  been  achieved  and  presumably  may 
be  attained  elsewhere.  It  contains  a  complete  description  of  '*  The 
Plant,"  including  diagrams  of  the  floors  of  the  several  buildings. 
It  is  replete  with  forms  for  circulars,  appeals,  for  tabulating  sta- 
tistics, for  keeping  parish  records,  and  for  all  requirements  of  the 
free  church  and  envelope  system.  It  is  a  complete  repository  of 
information  as  to  the  how  and  why  of  a  highly  developed  Institu- 
tional Church  in  practical  operation. 


376  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

The  Bishop  of  New  York  kindly  prepared  a  brief  historical  intro- 
duction to  the  book  from  which  an  extract  is  here  given,  and  the 
President  of  the  United  States  penned  the  noteworthy  appreciation 
which  follows  of  Dr.  Rainsford  and  his  St.  George's  work: 

But  the  history  of  St,  George's  Church  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 
has  illustrated,  most  of  all,  the  power  of  a  single  and  noble  manhood. 
Eloquence  there  may  be;  the  genius  of  organization;  personal  magnetism; 
tenacity  of  purpose,  and  qualities  like  them;  but  they  are  all  inferior  to 
that  loftiest  quality  which  makes  men  sensible  of  divine  authority  and  of 
human  sympathy.  In  the  union  of  these  two  powers,  I  think  that  the 
ministry  of  the  present  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church  has  been  altogether 
exceptional.  He  has  the  characteristics  of  his  race  and  temperament;  and 
the  superficial  listener  or  observer  may  not  always  be  enamoured  of  these; 
but  he  has  made  St.  George's  Church  a  witness  for  his  Master,  Jesus 
Christ,  among  a  population  as  dense  as  any  city  in  the  woi'ld  contains  and 
that  throngs  and  crowds  St.  George's  pews  whenever  its  doors  are  opened. 
The  poor  and  heavy-laden,  the  '  forgotten  of  their  fellow-men,'  who  turn 
to  its  altar  for  strength,  comfort,  and  refreshment,  know  that  a  great 
human  heart  is  there  to  translate  to  them  the  divine  heart  of  Love  that 
broods  above  us  all,  with  matchless  Sympathy  and  Help ! 

Henry  C.  Potter. 

Luxor,  Egypt,  January  8,  1906. 

The  Church  must  be  a  living,  breathing,  vital  force  or  it  is  no  real 
Church;  and  therefore  not  only  all  good  citizens,  but  especially  all  earnest 
Christians,  are  under  a  real  debt  of  obligation  to  the  Rev.  William  S. 
Rainsford  for  what  he  has  done  with  St.  George's  Church  in  New  York. 
Every  serious  student  of  our  social  and  industrial  conditions  has  learned  to 
look  with  discomfort  and  alarm  upon  the  diminishing  part  which  churches 
play  in  the  life  of  our  great  cities — for  I  need  hardly  say  that  no  increase 
in  the  number  of  fashionable  churches  and  of  wealthy  congregations  in  any 
shape  or  way  atones  for  the  diminution  in  the  number  of  the  churches  in 
the  very  localities  where  there  is  most  need  for  them.  If  ever  the  Christian 
Church  ceases  to  be  the  Church  of  the  plain  people,  it  will  cease  to  be  the 
Christian  Church. 

Dr.  Rainsford  has  stood  pre-eminent  among  the  clergymen  to  whom 
it  has  been  given  to  prevent  this  condition  of  things  fi'om  obtaining.  His 
remarkable  physical  and  mental  equipment,  and  the  appeal  that  ethical 
considerations  make  to  him.  put  him  in  the  forefront  of  those  both  able 
and  eager  to  do  the  task.  He  was  keenly  alive  to  everything  that  appeals 
to  men  as  men,  and  his  broad  and  deep  sympathies  made  him  acutely 
sensitive  to  the  needs  of  others  no  less  than  to  the  way  in  which  these 
needs  could  be  effectively  met.  With  such  an  equipment  he  took  an  empty 
church  and  filled  it.  He  filled  it  with  the  men  and  women  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. He  made  these  men  and  women  feel  that  whether  they  were  rich 
or  poor  mattered  nothing,  so  long  as  they  were  Clu-istians  who  tried  to 
live  their  Christianity  in  a  spirit  of  brotherly  love  and  of  sane,  cheerful 
helpfulness  towards  themselves  and  towards  one  another.  He  brought  the 
Church  close  to  the  busy,  working  life  of  a  great  city.  With  his  strong 
human  hand  he  felt  the  throbbing  pulse  of  the  people  among  whom  he 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  377 

worked,  and  he  fired  their  hearts  with  the  spirit  that  was  in  his  own.  As 
a  preacher,  as  an  executive,  as  a  citizen  among  his  fellow-citizens,  Dr. 
Rainsford  made  St.  George's  Church  the  most  notable  institution  of  its 
kind  in  the  world.  He  did  lasting  work  for  social  and  civic  righteousness. 
Not  only  New  York  City,  but  the  nation  as  a  whole,  owes  him  a  debt  of 
gratitude  for  his  molding  of  American  citizenship  in  the  form  in  which 
it  should  be  east.  The  kind  of  citizenship  for  the  upbuilding  of  which 
he  labored  is  that  which  rests  its  sense  of  duty  to  city  and  country  on  the 
deep  and  broad  foundation  of  ,the  eternal  laws  of  spiritual  well-being. 

I  keenly  regret  Dr.  Rainsford's  retirement  from  active  duty,  and  I  wel- 
come this  book  as  giving  a  record  of  a  life  work  full  of  insi^iration  for 
his  fellow-man.  To  Dr.  Rainsford  can  be  applied  the  words  of  the  German 
poet: 

'  Wer  nieht   gelitten,   hat   nur   halb   gelebt ; 
Wer  nicht  gefehlt,  hat  wohl  auch  nicht  gestrebt; 
Wer  nicht  geweint,   hat   halt   auch  nur  gelacht; 
Wer  nie  gezweifelt,  hat  wohl  kaum  gedacht!' 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 
The  White  Bouse,  Washington,  B.  C,  April  7,  1906. 

It  should  be  noted  that  two  years  before  the  publication  of  this 
book,  at  the  Universal  Exposition  held  at  St.  Louis  in  1904,  com- 
memorative of  the  acquisition  of  the  Louisiana  Territory,  the  Inter- 
national Jury  of  Awards  conferred  a  gold  medal  upon  the  work  of 
a  number  of  Institutional  Churches,  including  St.  George's,  New 
York. 

The  resignation  of  Miss  Cornelia  E.  Marshall  as  Branch  Secretary 
of  the  Girls'  Friendly  Society  in  October,  1908,  after  twenty  years 
of  loving  service  and  devotion  to  the  girls  of  St.  George's,  was  a 
distinct  loss  to  the  parish.  Hundreds  of  girls  had  come  under  her 
care  and  received  the  stamp  of  her  personality,  and  many  associates 
owed  to  her  their  inspiration  in  seeking  the  uplift  and  betterment 
of  the  young  women  within  their  influence.  Miss  Marshall  became 
the  president  of  the  Girls'  Friendly  Society  in  the  diocese  and  her 
place  was  taken,  at  her  suggestion,  in  St.  George's  by  Miss  Louise 
G.  Freeland,  who  has  since  proved  her  ability  to  perpetuate  Miss 
Marshall's  work. 

Another  great  loss  to  the  parish  was  the  removal  of  Deaconess 
Simpson,  of  which  the  rector  thus  writes : 

The  great  loss  of  the  year  to  all  of  us  has  been  that  of  Deaconess  Simp- 
son, who  for  the  last  twenty  years  has  done  a  remarkable  work  in  this  parish 
with  untiring  devotion  and  gi-eat  spirituality.  She  has  left  a  profound 
impression  upon  the  minds  of  hundreds  of  our  people,  which  they  will 
carry  with  them  always  as  one  of  tlieir  sacred  possessions.  The  love  and 
belief  that  she  has  earned  here  will  follow  her  as  she  takes  up  her  work 
in  the  Bronx  in  connection  with  the  Chapels  of  the  Atonement  and  St. 
Martha.     I  wish  to  particularly  acknowledge  here  the  beautiful  spirit  she 


378  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

has  shown  in  leaving  a  place  so  dear  to  her,  and  I  trust  that  her  connection 
of  love  and  sympathy  with  St.  George's  may  always  remain. 

The  pressing  problem  wrought  by  changes  in  the  neighborhood 
was  dealt  with  fully  by  the  rector  in  the  year  book  of  1908,  and  the 
included  figures  are  strikingly  suggestive : 

Our  neighborhood  has  largely  changed.  The  prevailing  German  popula- 
tion, from  which  twenty  years  ago  this  Parish  was  recruited,  is  slowly  and 
steadily  moving  away  to  the  suburbs  and  Hebrews,  Hungarians,  and  Ital- 
ians are  taking  their  places. 

In  1903  we  had  3,468  parishioners  (45  per  cent,  of  the  entire  congre- 
gation) living  between  Eleventh  and  Twentieth  Streets,  east  of  Fourth 
Avenue.  To-day  we  have  2,480  members  (33  per  cent,  of  the  congregation) 
in  the  same  locality.  It  has  been  our  policy  to  encourage  those  families 
who  have  moved  so  far  away  that  they  can  no  longer  regularly  attend 
Church  or  the  meetings  of  the  organizations  in  the  Memorial  House  to 
join  other  Churches  in  their  new  neighborhood.  All  of  us  have  labored 
with  indi^'idual  cases  to  accomplish  this,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  Sunday, 
February  23d,  at  the  request  of  the  Bishop  Coadjutor  of  the  Diocese,  I 
preached  at  one  of  the  great  monthly  services  in  the  new  Bronx  House, 
in  order  to  urge  any  of  my  own  people  living  near  there  who  might  be 
in  the  congregation  to  withdraw  from  St.  George's  and  add  their  en- 
thusiasm to  strengthen  the  Churches  in  the  Bronx.  In  spite  of  this  per- 
sistent policy  on  our  part,  I  find  that  in  1903  we  had  192  parishioners  in 
the  Bronx,  to-day  we  have  484.  In  the  same  year  we  had  living  in  Long 
Island,  New  Jersey,  and  Westchester  County  450  people,  to-day  we  have 
1,000.  The  work  of  transfer  progresses  slowly  and  regular  church  attend- 
ance suffers  in  consequence.  It  is  a  great  tribute  of  loyalty  to  all  St. 
George's  means  in  the  lives  of  these  people,  and  it  must  be  dealt  with  in  the 
light  of  their  real  appreciation  and  not  with  ruthless  sacerdotalism.  To 
sum  up  this  matter,  five  years  ago  there  were  8,290  people  connected  in 
some  way  with  St.  George's;  to-day  there  are  7,816.  Then  we  had  5,216 
communicants  and  now  we  have  5,166.  It  should  be  the  purpose  of  the 
future  to  continue  to  make  this  neighborhood  work  and  to  frankly  say 
to  those  at  a  distance  that  we  cannot  give  them  regular  parochial  atten- 
tion. The  Staff  cannot  call  on  any  one  living  above  125th  Street,  except 
in  cases  of  emergency  or  at  times  of  bereavement.  We  owe  this  deliberate 
deduction  to  the  Church  at  large  and  to  the  splendid  efforts  which  Bishop 
Greer  is  making  to  strengthen  the  life  of  the  Church  in  the  Bronx. 

You  will  see  from  all  this  that  there  is  still  a  great  work  to  be  done 
here  for  many  years  among  our  own  people,  but  that  we  should  not  let 
this  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  there  are  many  unchurched  Protestants  in 
our  midst  to  whom  we  should  appeal.  The  tendency  in  a  'place  which  in- 
spires so  much  loyalty  is  inevitably  exclusive.  The  average  Protestant 
rejoices  in  the  fact  that  he  belongs  to  a  religious  clique,  and  it  requires 
constant  effort  to  keep  before  our  minds  the  fact  that  we  are  not  trying 
to  save  the  Church,  but  to  save  the  World.  That  our  message  is  more 
to  the  men  outside  the  Church  than  inside  the  Church.  I  ask  all  of  you 
who  have  an  appreciation  of  the  saving  power  of  the  Gospel  to  illustrate 
this  through  the  conduct  of  our  gi-eat  inheritance  in   St.   George's.     We 


the'  BIRCKHEAD    rectorship  379 

must  'go  out  into  the  highways  and  hedges  and  compel  them  to  come 
in.'  A  Church  is  dying  which  is  not  aggressively  missionaiy.  Let  vis 
remember  that  Catholic  means  nothing  less  than  universal. 

During  the  past  tliirty  years  the  Episcopal  Chui-ch  has  expended  millions 
of  dollars  in  undertakings  looking  toward  ends  which  a  generation  ago 
were  scarcely  thought  of.  During  this  period  we  have  probably  built  more 
parish  houses  than  churches.  We  have  equipped  these  buildings  generously 
with  club-rooms,  reading-rooms,  gymnasiums,  and  other  physical  apparatus. 
We  have  also  interested  our  people  in  these  works,  and  they  have  not  only 
given  lavishly  to  them,  but,  what  is  far  more  important,  they  have  given 
themselves,  they  have  held  up  our  hands  and  have  faithfully  worked  by 
our  side.  This  movement  proceeded  largely  from  the  splendid  organizing 
brain  of  Dr.  Rainsford  and  it  still  bears  the  imprint  of  his  noble  per- 
sonality. Originating  at  St.  George's  Church  it  has  not  only  spread  through 
our  entire  communion,  but,  beyond  our  communion,  it  has  changed  the  ideal 
of  most  of  the  other  Evangelical  churches  and  it  has  profoundly  influenced 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and  the  Salvation  Army.  The 
object  of  this  effort  is  the  creation  of  a  better  social,  moral,  and  physical 
environment  for  those  whose  lives  contain  few  elevating  influences.  Its 
importance  consists  not  merely  in  the  benefits  it  confers  upon  the  less  fa- 
vored, but  in  the  charity  and  the  sympathy  it  has  awakened  in  the  Church 
and  in  the  drawing  together  of  the  rich  and  poor.  It  is  an  endeavor  to 
improve  man,  so  just,  so  reasonable  and  successful  that  it  can  never  be 
abandoned  so  long  as  our  social  relations  continue  what  they  are.  By  this 
expansion  of  sympathy  and  by  this  self-sacrificing  endeavor  to  help  those 
who  most  need  our  help,  the  Episcopal  Church  has  intrenched  itself  in  all 
our  great  cities  and  has  gained  a  national  recognition  which  our  old  re- 
stricted selfish  policy  would  never  have  gained  for  us.  Even  if  their 
Sunday  services  should  be  neglected,  churches  like  St.  George's,  Grace 
Church,  and  St.  Bartholomew's  Church,  New  York,  would  still  stand  among 
the  most  potent  forces  of  the  cities'  betterment,  as  among  the  most  ef- 
fective agencies  for  the  improvement  of  human  Life, 

It  had  been  planned  to  hold  a  pre-Lent  mission  for  one  week  in 
the  spring  of  1908.  The  execution  of  the  plan,  however,  was  delayed 
and  its  scope  enlarged  into  a  two  weeks  Advent  mission,  which  was 
held  from  November  29th  to  December  13,  1908,  by  the  Rev.  W.  J. 
Dawson,  D.D.,  of  London,  the  vestry  guaranteeing  its  cordial  co- 
operation and  support.  The  following  contemporary  notice  of  the 
Mission  well  describes  it : 

Much  interest  and  enthusiasm  is  attending  the  mission  which  is  being 
conducted  by  the  Rev,  Dr.  Dawson  in  St.  George's  Church  on  Stuyvesant 
Square.  Congregations  wliich  crowd  the  capacity  of  tlie  church  building 
are  coming  out  evei"y  evening  to  hear  this  famous  mission  i^reaeher  who 
is  stirring  the  neighborhood  around  the  church  as  it  was  years  ago  when 
missions  were  introduced  into  that  jiarish  by  the  late  rector.  Dr.  Rainsford. 
Dr.  Dawson  is  a  preacher  who  appeals  to  the  people  in  a  perfectly  straight- 
forward manner,  and  his  sermons  and  addresses  are  free  from  that  sensa- 
tionalism which  is  characteristic  of  many  such  series  of  special  services. 


380  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  Mission  was  announced  as  a  means  of  stirring  up  the  religious  life 
of  that  community  in  this  Advent  season  and  will  continue  during  the 
first  two  weeks  of  this  month.  It  was  begun  on  Advent  Sunday,  and  daily 
services  are  held  in  the  afternoon  and  in  the  evening  of  each  week-day; 
they  will  end  on  Sunday,  the  13th,  The  services  are  planned  to  appeal 
to  all  sorts  of  people.  The  afternoon  meetings  partake  of  the  nature  of 
quiet  hours,  while  the  evening  services  are  purely  evangelistic  in  tone. 
That  these  meetings  are  taking  hold  of  the  people  of  the  Church  and  of 
the  neighborhood  is  evident  from  the  rapidly  increasing  attendance  at  the 
two  services  each  day. 

As  a  preacher,  Dr.  Dawson  is  wonderfully  well  fitted  to  hold  missions. 
His  power  in  the  pulpit,  his  sympathy  with  all  classes,  his  knowledge  of 
human  nature — gained  from  a  long  i^eriod  of  pastoral  work — all  combine 
to  make  his  addresses  reach  those  for  whom  they  are  intended.  From  the 
critical  point  of  view  his  sermons  are  worthy  of  close  study,  for  it  is  a 
rare  thing  to  find  a  preacher  who  unites  all  the  qualities  which  go  to  make 
up  a  well-rounded  discourse — as  they  are  seen  in  his  sermons.  His  aptness 
of  illustration,  his  quiet  humor,  his  wonderfully  well-chosen  diction,  and 
his  force  in  utterance  are  points  which  indicate  a  finished  preacher.  His 
sermons  reach  the  people — the  educated  as  well  as  the  uneducated — for  Dr. 
Dawson  is  not  only  an  Evangelist,  but  he  is  at  the  same  time  a  scholar  and 
knows  well  how  to  adapt  his  ideas  to  all  accej^tably.  He  brings  a  great 
fund  of  scholarly  attainments  to  bear  upon  his  hearers,  for  he  is  thoroughly 
at  home  in  the  realm  of  literature  and  letters  and  has  to  back  his  mission 
preaching  a  reputation  as  a  critic  and  as  a  lecturer  which  is  recognized 
in  the  English-speaking  world,  and  during  the  months  of  the  year  in  which 
he  is  not  engaged  in  conducting  missions  over  this  country  he  is  at  work 
upon  his  literary  productions. 

He  is  assisted  in  the  service  by  a  large  chorus  choir  which  leads  the 
congregation  in  a  service  of  praise  before  every  daily  meeting.  An  innova- 
tion has  been  introduced  by  having  the  choir  sing  hymns  upon  the  steps 
of  the  church  before  the  evening  sei^dces  as  a  preliminary  to  the  worship 
of  praise.    And  in  this  service  fully  one  hundred  people  engage  each  night. 

In  order  that  this  mission  may  reach  many  in  the  neighborhood,  it  is 
being  planned  to  have  a  great  religious  procession  through  the  streets  near 
the  church  the  early  part  of  next  week.  Religious  processions  are  no  new 
thing  in  evangelistic  campaigns  and  have  been  used  for  many  years,  par- 
ticularly in  England,  where  they  are  regarded  with  favor  by  even  the  most 
conservative  churchmen  in  the  Church  of  England  and  the  other  religious 
bodies  there.  Success  has  attended  such  demonstrations,  and  in  some  mis- 
sions which  Dr.  Dawson  has  had  in  this  country  such  processions  have  been 
carried  on. 

The  whole  policy  of  having  this  mission  in  St.  George's  is  in  keeping 
with  the  *  traditions '  of  that  parish,  for  it  has  always  stood  as  a  leading 
representative  of  the  Evangelical  school  in  the  church  in  this  country;  and 
its  previous  rectors,  the  Rev.  Drs.  Milnor,  Tyng,  and  Rainsford,  were 
leaders  in  that  matter,  so  that  the  present  rector,  the  Rev.  Hugh  Birckhead, 
is  merely  carrying  on  the  ideas  which  this  parish  has  always  emphasized. 

A  special  musical  service,  "  The  Children  of  Bethlehem,"  was 
held  in  the  church  on  Sunday  evening  December  27,  1908.     It  was 


THE     BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  381 

described  as  "  A  Mystery  ' '  in  two  parts  and  was  sung  by  one  hun- 
dred of  the  parish  children  assisted  by  adult  soloists  and  the  Russian 
Symphony  Orchestra  under  the  direction  of  the  organist,  Homer 
Norris.  Ben  Greet,  the  well-known  open-air  actor  of  Shakespearian 
plays,  was  the  narrator.  Part  T.  of  ''  The  Mystery  "  showed  the 
pasture  lands  surrounding  the  village  of  Bethlehem.  In  the  winter 
twilight  a  group  of  shepherd  children  were  watching  the  flocks. 
Part  II.  represented  the  stable. 

After  the  musical  service  the  rector  made  a  brief  address  wel- 
coming the  strangers  present  and  urging  all  to  begin  the  new  year 
aright.    Speaking  of  the  musical  service,  Dr.  Birckhead  said : 

In  England  when  there  were  no  theaters  and  very  few  persons  knew 
how  to  read  great  festivals  were  given  in  the  chapels.  They  were  called 
*  Mystery  Plays '  and  were  acted  by  the  clergy  and  members  of  the  choir. 
These  *  Mysteiy  Plays '  always  pictured  some  scene  from  the  Old  or  the 
New  Testament.  One  of  these  plays  was  called  '  The  Shepherd  '  and  told 
the  storj'  of  the  first  Christmas.  They  were  similar  to  the  service  we  have 
had  to-night. 

The  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  the  Hudson 
River  by  Henry  Hudson  in  1609,  and  the  one  hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  first  successful  application  of  steam  to  navigation  by  Robert 
Fulton  in  1807,  were  regarded  by  the  vestry  as  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  justify  arrangements,  which  they  made  in  March,  1909,  for 
a  special  service  to  be  held  in  St.  George's  Church  on  September 
26,  1909,  in  their  commemoration. 

Two  valuable  bequests  were  received  by  the  Church  during  the 
j^ear  ending  in  March,  1909.  The  first  was  one  of  $13,726,  under 
the  will  of  Frances  Louise  Wilson,  to  be  known  as  the  Frederick 
Danne  bequest  for  the  "  Endowment  Fund  of  Seaside  Work."  The 
other  of  $25,000  was  for  the  endowment  fund  of  the  parish  under 
the  will  of  Mrs.  David  Dows,  whose  husband  had  been  a  vestryman 
and  warden  from  1868  to  1890  and  whose  services  had  been  in- 
valuable during  the  trying  period  of  transition  in  the  parish  history. 

Another  endowment  gift  of  $1,000  was  made  early  in  1910  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wolcott  G.  Lane,  the  income  of  which  during  their  life 
was  to  be  applied  toward  the  support  of  Camp  Rainsford  and  after 
their  death  to  this  or  a  similar  purpose;  which  gift  was  appre- 
ciatively accepted  by  the  vestry. 

The  rector's  treatment  of  two  pressing  problems  in  the  Year  Book 
of  1909,  as  indicating  the  necessity  of  changing  methods  to  meet 
new  conditions,  is  worthy  of  insertion  here : 


382  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

There  are  two  problems  which  particularly  confront  the  Church  to-day. 
The  first  of  these  is  whether  the  Church  is  to  have  a  part  in  the  solution 
of  the  national  problem  of  democracy.  Those  who  have  the  eye  to  see 
must  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  great  forces  are  at  work  in  our  land  to 
bring  about  social  reformation.  Questions  of  individual  liberty,  the  re- 
striction of  corporations,  and  the  correction  of  the  political  machinery  are 
all  being  vigorously  mooted,  and  every  intelligent  man  who  reads  his  daily 
paper  must  realize  in  what  is  thus  brought  to  his  attention  that  these  are 
but  the  birth  pangs  of  a  greater  national  life.  Meanwhile  the  Church  has 
sedulously  confined  herself  to  purely  religious  matters.  She  has  refused 
to  hear  the  voices  from  without,  she  has  allowed  most  of  the  leaders  of  our 
time  to  grow  up  outside  her  border  and  to  act  without  her  support.  Bishop 
Greer,  in.  the  annual  convention  address,  said  that  religion  in  this  land  was 
only  '  a  guest,'  treated  courteously  and  given  honorable  place,  but  not 
really  a  part  of  the  life  of  every  day,  not  really  a  working  factor  in  the 
great  solution,  .  .  ,  The  problems  that  confront  us  as  a  nation  are  prin- 
cipally moral  problems, — how  to  make  it  easier  for  men  under  this  gov- 
ernment and  in  this  government  to  do  right.  These  jDroblems  are  distinctly 
the  province  of  the  Church.  They  need  at  once  inspiration,  the  spirit 
of  discernment,  and  the  loving  knowledge  of  human  nature  which  char- 
acterized our  Saviour,  Moreover,  the  Church  is  here  '  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  1o  minister  and  to  give  her  life  for  many.'  We  have  taken  the 
attitude  that  we  should  receive  the  contiibutions  and  the  confidence  of  the 
community  without  particularly  striving  to  minister  to  the  community; 
and  if  we  minister  we  are  quite  content  to  deal  with  the  results  which  mis- 
management and  misgovernment  bring  about,  rather  than  to  insist  that  the 
causes  which  produce  those  results  should  be  done  away  with.  The  whole 
scheme  of  philanthroiDV,  necessary  as  it  is,  stands  in  the  way  of  the  average 
intelligent  American,  dealing  with  the  first  causes  in  his  own  land.  It  is 
part  of  our  good  nature  and  kindness  that  we  would  rather  bind  up  the 
broken  arm  than  eoiTect  the  machineiy  which  inflicted  the  fracture.  It  is 
simjDler,  and  in  a  great  majority  of  cases  it  costs  little  more  than  the  effort 
to  write  one's  signature.  I  trust  that  this  Parish  will  take  a  definite  part 
in  the  movement  toward  civic  righteousness  in  New  York.  It  is  part 
of  God's  trath  that  we  should  be  rightly  governed,  it  is  part  of  Chris- 
tianity that  we  should  do  away  with  the  wheels  of  a  system  which  are 
luring  hundreds  of  well-meaning  men  into  fraud  and  graft.  Such  ques- 
tions as  the  opening  of  the  saloon  on  Sunday  and  the  city's  budget,  of  vital 
importance  to  the  commmiit^^,  are  well  within  our  province,  and  there  are 
many  more.  The  average  American  is  not  interested  in  his  own  govern- 
ance. It  is  on  this  lack  of  interest  that  the  eorrui^t  politician  depends. 
The  causes  and  results  in  our  American  life  are  too  far  apart  for  the 
average  man  to  see  their  relation,  for  the  average  man  to  see  the  result 
of  his  own  wrongdoing.  The  Church  must  bring  them  together,  the  Church 
must  make  the  complexities  of  the  situation  plain,  the  Church  must  insist 
that  citizenship  is  a  definite  part  of  Christianity.  God  grant  that  the 
Church  may  qualify  when  the  great  day  of  decision  comes,  and  not  as  was 
so  terribly  tnie  in  France  in  1789,  and  is  so  grimly  tnie  in  Russia  to-day, 
fail  the  nation  in  her  hour  of  need. 

The  second  problem  to  which  I  wish  to  call  yoiu'  attention  is  '  How  to 
reach  the  man  outside  the  Church  who  calls  himself  a  Protestant.' 

There  are  here  in  our  midst  in  New  York,  according  to  the  Federation 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  383 

of  Churches,  1,072,000  Protestants,  of  whom  only  337,000  are  actually 
Church  members,  and  only  500,000  seats  in  Protestant  Churches.  We 
should  be  particularly  interested  in  this  matter,  because  we  have  to-day 
registered  upon  the  books  of  St.  George's  Church  the  names  of  7,816 
people,  5,229  of  whom  are  communicants,  in  spite  of  which  fact  we  rarely 
have  an  attendance  of  more  than  3,000  persons  at  all  the  religious  services 
of  the  week.  Part  of  the  reason  for  this  is-  the  change  in  the  feeling  of  our 
time.  We  have  not  the  same  sin-consciousness  that  our  forefathers  had. 
The  fear  once  so  potent  a  factor  in  religion  has  been  largely  eliminated 
by  the  doctrine  of  evolution  and  by  the  gradualness  of  the  whole  human 
process.  We  shall  never  see  again  the  religious  dominance  of  the  Middle 
Age  or  the  religious  intensity  of  the  Puritan.  The  whole  scheme  of  thought 
about  God  and  His  relation  to  us  has  become  very  broad  and  allows  much 
room  for  mdividual  opinion  and  great  divergence  in  conduct  as  well  as 
ideas.  These  reasons  do  not  entirely  explain  the  situation.  Man  is  es- 
sentially a  religious  animal;  he  really  wants  to  know  God,  he  really  wants 
to  do  right,  but  this  effort  after  God  consciousness  requires  too  much 
concentration  and  too  high  a  standard  of  comment ;  *  it  is  a  terrible  thing 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God.'  But  it  is  a  ditiicult  discipline  to 
live  daily  face  to  face  with  Him.  We  are  ever  seeking,  therefore,  the 
easiest  way;  we  try  as  individuals  and  as  organizations  to  discover  some 
escape  from  the  all-absorbing  imperative  of  the  Christian  conception  of 
God.  The  Church,  influenced  by  this  demand  in  the  community,  has 
turned  her  attention  to  social  things,  on  the  one  hand,  or  has  reduced  her 
requii'ements  to  suit  the  comfortable,  luxurious  living  of  a  certain  class, 
who  find  it  a  j^art  of  their  peace  of  mind  to  attend  public  worship  at  least 
once  a  week.  The  comfortable  gospel  is  too  often  preached  in  the  Epis- 
copal Church;  it  is  well  written,  interesting,  and  has  a  certain  cultivated 
spirituality  which  is  very  pleasing  to  the  trained  ear;  it  is  frequently  dis- 
cussed at  the  luncheon  table  on  Sundays  and  occasionally  finds  a  place 
in  the  conversation  of  its  hearers  during  the  week  which  follows.  By 
much  repetition  of  such  preaching  certain  beautiful  and  sacred  results 
are  undoubtedly  obtained,  but  such  sermons  require  a  cultivated  taste  to 
be  api^reeiated.  They  minister  very  often  to  the  ninety-and-nine  who 
need  no  repentance;  such  people  do  not  wish  to  be  aroused,  the  word  sen- 
sational is  the  most  scathing  epithet  in  their  vocabulary  which  can  be 
applied  to  a  sermon  or  clergyman.  But,  alas,  the  world  is  not  going  to 
be  saved  through  such  self -satisfying  ministrations.  The  average  man 
wants  realities  and  will  have  them  wherever  they  may  be  found.  These 
realities,  alas,  are  too  often  the  hard  American  facts  of  commerce  or  the 
tangible  luxuries  which  appeal  to  the  senses,  and  he  is  perforce  content 
with  these  because  the  great  realities  of  the  spiritual  life  have  never  been 
revealed  to  him  or  forced  on  his  attention.  The  average  Churehless  man 
or  wom.an  is  unconscious  of  any  great  lack,  and  they  can  only  be  made 
to  feel  their  loss  by  a  very  stirring  presentation  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  by  a  still  more  stirring  exemplification  of  what  it  can  mean 
in  the  lives  of  men  and  women.  What  was  true  in  the  days  of  the  Apostolic 
period  is  true  to-day.  Men  are  more  convinced  by  human  sacrifice  than  by 
words  or  organization,  and  while  evolution  teaches  us  the  siu^'ival  of  the 
fittest  Christianity  makes  imperative  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  fit. 

This,  then,   is  the  question   to   every  man   and  woman   who   has   had   a 
vision  of  what  Christianity  can  mean  in  his  time,  to  bend  all  his  energies 


384  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

to  make  the  message  of  the  Cross  interesting,  comprehensive,  and  forceful 
by  word  of  mouth,  and,  above  all,  by  example.  The  measure  of  the  ef- 
fectiveness of  any  great  world  thought  is  the  measure  of  the  human  energy 
and  consecration  put  into  it.  We  can  only  be  thrilled  by  the  devotion  we 
find  in  the  lives  of  others  who  are  frankly  following  the  steps  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  when  it  comes  to  the  great  majority  of  uneducated  or  half- 
educated  people  it  is  the  human  document  only  that  they  can  decipher, 
and  if  that  human  document  is  far  from  convincing,  then  they  must  be  far 
from  convinced.  The  cause  of  evangelism  is  very  dear  to-day  in  the  heart 
of  this  parish.  I  believe  that  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word  a  wise 
evangelism  is  the  only  hope  of  the  Church.  The  evangelization  of  New 
York  will  come  gi'adually  through  the  spirit  of  the  men  who  bring  it  into 
being.  They  must  have  two  ideals  always  in  mind,  preaching  and  living 
them  tirelessly ;  first,  '  Brotherhood  to  all  always,'  and  second,  '  Jesus  can 
answer  any  need  if  I  can  only  make  him  real.' 

A  most  interesting  event  and  one  of  prime  importance  in  the 
personal  history  of  the  rector  took  place  in  the  church  on  Wednes- 
day, June  9,  1909,  at  4  p.m.  It  was  the  first  time  that  the  marriage 
of  a  rector  of  St.  George's  had  been  solemnized  within  its  walls. 
Thousands  of  invitations  had  been  sent  to  relatives  and  friends  of 
the  two  families  immediately  concerned  and  to  members  of  the 
parish.  The  church  was  naturally  crowded  to  its  full  capacity. 
The  bride  was  Miss  Caroline  Minturn  Hall,  and  the  ceremony  was 
performed  by  Bishop  G-reer.  The  reception,  which  was  given  by 
the  wardens  and  vestrymen,  was  held  after  the  ceremony  in  the 
Memorial  House.  The  large  room  on  the  second  floor  was  beauti- 
fully decorated,  and  it  was  here  the  rector  and  his  bride  received 
the  guests  while  strains  of  soft  music  Avere  wafted  from  the  gallery. 
The  large  room  on  the  ground  floor,  also  decorated,  was  used  as  the 
refreshment-room.  The  throng  was  very  great,  but  the  ushers,  aided 
by  the  Cadet  Battalion,  kept  the  guests  in  motion  and  every  one 
had  opportunity  to  shake  hands  with  and  to  congratulate  the  rector 
and  his  wife.     The  wedding  trip  was  spent  abroad. 

A  springtime  festival  was  held  on  St.  George's  Day,  April  23, 
1910,  the  occasion  of  which  was  the  planting  of  twenty  young  maple- 
trees  on  Sixteenth  Street  in  front  of  the  Church,  ]\Iemorial  House, 
and  Deaconess  House.  The  trees  were  presented  by  various  organ- 
izations of  the  parish.  The  street  was  roped  off,  the  asphalt  had 
been  thoroughly  cleaned,  and  the  grand-stand,  the  windows  on  both 
sides  of  the  street,  and  every  available  inch  of  standing  room  were 
filled  by  interested  spectators  who  greatly  enjoyed  the  festival. 
After  the  tree-planting,  a  pantomime  presenting  the  story  of  St. 
George  and  the  Dragon  was  acted;  and  this  was  followed 
by  eight  national   costume   dances   in  which   the   children   of   the 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  385 

Saturday-morning  school  had  been  carefully  drilled  for  many^ 
weeks. 

The  choir-master  at  St.  George's  had  had  to  contend  with  the 
great  practical  difficulty  of  keeping  the  two  divisions  of  the  choir, 
located  on  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the  wide  chancel,  in  time 
and  tune.  A  small  organ  on  the  south  side  would  rectify  the  dif- 
ficulty, and  the  organist  from  his  usual  seat  on  the  north  side  would 
be  able  properly  to  accompany  that  division  of  the  choir  in  solos 
or  choruses.  During  the  summer  of  1910  the  desired  organ  was 
supplied  at  a  cost  of  $1,200  and  was  dedicated  in  the  evening  of 
November  14th. 

The  latest  addition  to  the  practical  benevolences  of  St.  George's 
is  the  Tuberculosis  Class,  which,  after  a  somewhat  experimental 
year,  has  taken  a  permanent  place  among  the  parochial  activities. 
The  following  appreciative  description  of  the  work  is  from  The 
Congregationalist  and  Christian  World: 

The  class  reaches  a  number  of  patients  vinsatisfaetory  to  the  private 
physician  and  inaccessible  to  the  dispensary.  These  people  will  not  give 
up  a  half-day's  work  and  pay  to  go,  of  their  own  initiative,  to  the  nearest 
tuberculosis  dispensarj'  and  wait,  sometimes  an  hour  or  more,  in  a  crowded, 
noisy  room — on  the  same  bench  usually  with  patients  in  every  stage  of 
the  disease — in  order  finally  to  be  examined  by  a  physician  who  is  an 
utter  stranger  to  them.  This  is  the  more  true  if  such  patients  have  few 
symptoms,  as  is  often  the  case,  and  do  not  believe  themselves  in  need  of 
medical  advice.  They  can  be  and  are  reached  by  a  personal  friend  or 
the  church  visitor,  and  can  be  induced  to  present  themselves  for  examina- 
tion at  the  church  house  among  patients  belonging  to  their  own  neighbor- 
hood or  circle  of  acquaintances,  by  physicians  known  to  them  personally, 
and  at  an  hour  arranged  to  suit  their  necessities.  For  an  evening  class  is 
conducted  once  a  month  for  the  examination  of  applicants  who  are  unable 
to  come  in  the  daytime. 

The  regular  meetings  of  St.  George's  class  are  held  Thursday  after- 
noon each  week  in  two  rooms  set  aside  for  the  purpose  in  the  Memorial 
Building  (parish  house).  One  is  the  examining  and  consultation-room 
where  the  patients  are  seen  individually  by  the  class  physicians.  The  week 
is  then  reviewed  in  detail,  as  each  class  member  is  required  to  keep  an 
accurate  record  of  his  daily  regime  in  a  book  devised  for  the  purpose.  So 
intimately  do  the  doctors  come  to  know  the  members  of  the  class  that  these 
weekly  conferences  are  more  like  friendly  conversations  for  advice  and 
encouragement  than  professional  consultations. 

The  other  room  is  the  class  or  club-room  for  the  social  side  of  the 
organization,  upon  which  so  much  stress  is  laid  at  St.  George's.  Here 
the  wisdom  and  ingenuity  of  the  committee  are  everywhere  evident.  Clean, 
white  enamel  paint,  window-cushions,  and  in  the  colder  months  a  blazing 
wood  fire  m  the  open  fireplace  render  the  room  bright  and  cheerful.  The 
class  visitor  (a  trained  nurse),  one  or  two  members  of  the  committee,  and 
some  of  the  '  graduates '  and  older  patients  are  always  present  on  class 
25 


386  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

days  to  welcome  and  encourage  strangers.  Tn  the  middle  of  the  afternoon 
milk  or  hot  cocoa  and  sandwiches  or  bread  are  provided  for  all.  No  wonder 
it  is  easy  to  persuade  new-comers  to  return  and  bring  their  friends  and 
family  for  examination! 

The  roof-garden  of  the  Deaconess  House  is  used  as  a  camp  for 
the  open-air  treatment  of  the  Tuberculoids.  There  are  a  kitchen, 
dining-room,  dressing-room,  and  bath  adjacent,  all  convenient  and 
attractive.  The  vital  difference  between  this  class  work  as  it  is 
carried  on  by  St.  George's  and  some  other  churches  and  that  of  the 
ordinary  institution  is  the  emphasis  which  is  laid  upon  the  indi- 
vidual, the  personal  sympathy  and  care  and  touch  of  the  Christian 
Church  seeking  to  heal  the  sick  ones. 

The  fresh-air  work  has  changed  its  emphasis.  Formerly  the  great 
need  was  to  provide  a  daily  excursion,  as  the  facilities  for  going  out 
of  town  were  then  limited  and  expensive.  To-day  for  a  small  sum 
a  whole  family  can  reach  one  of  the  seaside  resorts  and  spend  the 
day  enjoyably.  But  the  special  need  is  for  a  longer  sojourn  at  the 
shore,  that  tired  mothers  and  working-girls  on  their  brief  vacation 
may  have  a  quiet,  inexpensive  opportunity  for  rest.  The  desirability 
of  this  change  has  been  increasingly  apparent  for  the  last  ten  years, 
and  it  has  been  decided  to  use  the  Rockaway  cottage  principally 
for  those  who  can  remain  a  week.  The  few  extra  rooms  in  the  cot- 
tage, which  heretofore  were  used  for  purposes  in  connection  with 
the  daily  excursions,  have  been  converted  into  bedrooms. 

In  the  spring  of  1910  there  were  put  up  bungalows  on  the  cottage 
grounds  at  a  cost  of  $1,007  which  accommodate  three  families. 
These  bungalows  are  specially  designed  for  the  use  of  the  young 
married  people  of  the  parish  who  have  one  or  two  small  children. 
Each  bungalow  consists  of  two  rooms  and  a  piazza  with  all  necessary 
furniture,  gas-stove,  cooking  utensils,  and  dishes.  The  occupants  for 
a  two  weeks'  stay  provide  their  own  food  and  do  their  own  house- 
keeping. This  arrangement  has  proved  very  satisfactory  and  com- 
mended itself  as  an  important  provision  in  the  seaside  work. 

The  boys  have  Camp  Rainsford  as  a  summer  resort,  and  the 
working-girls  are  encouraged  to  save  up  their  money  to  provide  for 
a  vacation  in  the  summer  and  spend  it  in  one  of  the  vacation  houses. 
Every  year  a  num])er  of  the  girls  who  for  various  reasons  are  not 
able  to  provide  for  themselves  are  assisted  from  the  parish  funds. 

The  ownership  of  the  4,331  feet  constituting  the  ocean  beach  at 
Rockaway  Park  had  been  for  a  long  time  in  dispute.  The  Rock- 
away  Park  Land  Company  claimed  it  and  made  efforts  to  sell  it 
and  also  to  build  upon  it.     During  the  winter  and  the  following 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP 


387 


DIAGRAM    OP    ST.    GEORGE's    PROPERTY,    ROCKAWAY    BEACH 


388  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

spring  of  1911  the  Eockaway  Park  Citizens'  Association  took  the 
matter  up  and  it  was  finally  settled  thus:  on  June  15th  the  Rock- 
away  Park  Land  Company  turned  over  the  beach  to  the  Rockaway 
Park  Citizens'  Association  for  the  sum  of  $10,000,  which  then  pre- 
sented the  beach  to  the  city  of  New  York  under  the  following  con- 
dition, viz. :  ' '  that  Triton  Avenue  and  Ocean  Beach  shall  forever 
remain  open  so  that  the  view  southward  shall  forever  be  free,  open, 
and  unobstructed  except  for  a  suitable  board-walk." 

This  settlement  of  the  disputed  question  may  be  regarded  as 
highly  satisfactory.  Not  only  is  the  property  of  St.  George's  Church 
more  valuable,  but  the  city  now  owns  one  piece  of  ocean  front  where 
its  people  can  come  for  a  breathing  spell  without  encroaching  on  the 
rights  of  others.  The  $10,000  fund  was  raised  by  those  interested, 
and  in  behalf  of  St.  George's  Mr.  Morgan  contributed  $2,500 
toward  it. 

The  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement,  an  organization  of  the  men 
of  the  Protestant  Churches  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  for 
"  the  evangelization  of  the  world  in  this  generation,"  early  enlisted 
the  co-operation  of  the  men  of  St.  George's.  An  organization  was 
effected  February  6,  1910,  and  the  Hon.  Seth  Low  was  invited  to 
describe  the  movement  and  its  plan  to  the  congregation  on  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday  morning.  Immediate  fruits  resulted,  A  circular 
letter  with  subscription  blank  and  envelope  were  sent  to  every  man 
in  the  congregation.  A  missionary  dinner  was  arranged  for  in  the 
parish  house  January  20th  at  which  over  one  hundred  men  were 
present  and  among  the  speakers  were  Hon.  Seth  Low,  Mr.  Stephen 
Baker,  and  Mr.  W.  Fellowes  Morgan.  A  missionary  rally  was  ar- 
ranged for  on  Sunday  evening,  February  12th.  St.  George's  was 
represented  on  the  executive  committee  of  the  diocesan  body  co- 
operating with  the  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement  by  Mr.  William 
E.  Curtis  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Pike.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  the  rector, 
after  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  of  the  General  Board  of  Missions, 
Mr.  George  Gordon  King,  its  treasurer,  stated  that  "  St.  George's 
Church  stands  No.  5  in  the  list  of  givers  to  Missions. ' ' 

The  Woman's  Branch  of  St.  George's  Missionary  Society  was 
active  in  its  interest  and  liberal  in  its  contributions  to  the  cause 
of  Missions,  and  its  president,  Mrs.  John  Greenough,  was  appointed 
to  represent  the  women  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Churches  of 
New  York  at  the  "  Jubilee  in  Commemoration  of  Fifty  Years  of 
Women's  Work  for  JMissions  "  held  in  New  York  last  spring, 
March  25-30th. 

Early  in  1910  the  vestry  took  into  consideration  what  arrange- 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  389 

ments  should  be  made  to  suitably  celebrate  the  one  hundredth  an- 
niversary of  the  organization  of  St,  George's  Church.  In  the  previ- 
ous year  the  publication  of  a  history  of  the  parish  had  been  decided 
upon  and  an  engagement  entered  into  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry 
Anstice  to  write  the  book. 

The  writer  of  this  histoiy  was  born  in  New  York  City  October  7,  1841, 
and  was  baptized  in  old  St.  George's  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor  March  29, 
1842.  His  parents  were  Heniy  Anstice  and  Mary  Saltonstall,  communi- 
cants of  St.  George's,  whose  regard  for  the  rector  was  later  evidenced  by 
naming  one  of  their  sons  James  Milnor.  He  well  remembers  toddling  up 
the  east  aisle  of  the  old  church  to  receive  a  book  and  a  cake  at  the  hands 
of  Dr.  Milnor  as  he  stood  arrayed  in  his  gown  and  bands  on  the  chancel 
platform  on  New  Year's  Day  to  make  his  annual  distribution  to  the  chil- 
dren of  juvenile  books  and  those  caraway-seed  cakes  stamped  with  various 
devices,  which  were  so  popular  with  the  young  New-Yorkers  of  that  day. 
He  A-ividly  recalls  the  ministries  of  Dr.  Tyng  and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Rooker, 
in  the  transition  period  when  the  congTegation  worshiped  in  the  Chapel 
of  the  University  on  Washington  Square  and  was  one  of  the  first  attend- 
ants at  the  Sunday-school  in  the  original  chapel  building  in  Sixteenth 
Street.  Plis  early  education  was  secured  in  private  schools  in  the  city 
and  in  the  Yonkers  Collegiate  Institute.  He  entered  Williams  College  in 
1858.  graduated  with  honor  in  1862,  and  became  a  candidate  for  Holy 
Orders  in  the  Diocese  of  New  York  October  30th  in  the  same  year.  Gradu- 
ating from  the  Philadelphia  Divinity  School  in  1865,  he  was  ordered 
deacon  in  the  Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  New  York,  Jidy  2,  1865, 
by  Bishoji  Horatio  Potter,  at  Avhose  hands  he  had  received  Confirmation 
in  July,  1858,  and  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  the  same  Bishop 
in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Flatbush,  November  21,  1865.  His  first  ministerial 
duty  was  the  temporary  charge  of  St.  Barnabas'  Church,  Irvdngton-on- 
Hudson,  in  which  church  he  was  united  in  maii'iage  May  30,  1866,  with 
Miss  Flora  Fenner  by  Bishop  Horatio  Potter,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng  and  other 
clergj-men  being  present  in  the  chancel. 

He  became  rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Rochester,  New  York,  in  May, 
1866,  remaining  in  that  position  for  thirty-one  years,  until  May,  1897. 
During  this  period  he  was  elected  in  1868  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionaiy  Society;  Financial  and 
CorresiDonding  Secretars^  of  the  Missionary^  Board  of  Western  New  York, 
1870  to  1879;  Dean  of  Rochester,  1882,  with  a  brief  interval,  to  1895; 
Trustee  of  the  Clergj^men's  Retii-ing  Fund  Society,  November,  1888;  Sec- 
retaiy  of  the  Missionaiy  Council,  October,  1887,  being  triennially  re- 
elected during  the  whole  life  of  the  Council,  twenty-seven  years,  until  it  was 
discontinued  by  the  General  Convention  of  1904.  He  received  the  honorary 
degi-ee  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the  University  of  Rochester  in  June, 
1875;  represented  the  Diocese  of  Western  New  York  in  several  General 
Conventions  from  1877,  in  which  year  he  was  appointed  first  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  House  of  Deputies;  and  was  elected  member  of  the  Board 
of  Managers  of  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionai-y   Society  February 

He  became  rector  of  the  Church  of  St.  Matthias,  Philadelphia,  in  March, 


390  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

1897;  was  elected  an  overseer  of  the  Philadelphia  Divinity  School  in  June, 
1899;  trustee  of  the  American  Church  Building  Fund  Commission,  of  which 
he  had  been  a  Commissioner  since  1895,  in  November,  1900;  President  of 
the  Northwest  Convocation  of  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania  Januaiy,  1901; 
and  Financial  Secretaiy  of  the  Clergymen's  Retiring  Fund  Society  April, 
1902.  His  resignation  of  the  rectorship  of  St.  Mattliias'  Church  took 
effect  October  1,  1903,  when  he  returned  to  his  native  city  to  devote 
liimself  exclusively,  aside  from  Sunday  preaching,  to  the  interests  of  the 
various  Church  organizations  with  which  he  was  officially  connected  and 
to  the  duties  of  Secretary  of  the  House  of  Deputies,  to  which  position  he 
was  elected  in  October,  1904,  after  having  served  as  first  Assistant  Secre- 
tary for  the  preceding  twenty-seven  years.  , 

The  plan  and  scope  of  the  entire  celebration  being  now  under 
consideration  by  the  vestry,  various  projects  were  suggested  to  fit- 
tingly mark  the  memorable  occasion.  The  erection  of  a  Memorial 
Chapel  was  the  suggestion  meeting  with  most  favor.  The  treasurer 
reported  that  he  had  to  the  credit  of  the  Chapel  Fund  $300  and  a 
pledge  of  $2,000  toward  the  cost  of  its  erection;  and  also  that  the 
premises  No.  4  Rutherford  Place,  next  to  the  Church,  were  for  sale 
at  $42,000.  The  property  was  purchased  by  members  of  the  vestry 
for  $37,922.96  and  title  to  it  was  taken  March  30,  1910.  In 
the  following  December  the  project  of  building  a  chapel  on  this 
property  came  up  for  final  decision,  and  it  was  unanimously  agreed 
that  to  erect  a  Memorial  Chapel  would  be  the  most  fitting  and  useful 
way  of  permanently  commemorating  the  occasion.  A  list  of  the 
subscribers  to  the  Chapel  Fund  may  be  found  in  Part  II.  of  this 
history. 

The  date  of  incorporation  of  the  Church,  November  19,  1811, 
happily  coinciding  this  year  with  a  Sunday,  it  was  resolved  to 
specially  commemorate  that  day,  and  the  rector  was  instructed  to 
request  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Manning,  rector 
of  Trinity  Church,  to  reserve  that  date  that  they  might  speak  on  the 
occasion  of  St.  George's  Centennial  Celebration. 

The  committee  on  Plan  and  Scope  issued  the  following  official 
notification  and  appeal: 

TO    THE    MEMBERS    OP    ST.    GEORGE's    PARISH    AND    ALL    THOSE    INTERESTED    IN 

ST,  George's  church  as  an  historic  landmark 

With  the  present  year  St.  George's  Church  completes  its  first  century  of 
corporate  life.  On  November  19,  1811,  this  Parish  came  into  being  under 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York.  It  would  seem  to  be  only  within  the 
dictates  of  common  gratitude  that  some  special  notice  should  be  taken 
of  our  Hundredth  Anniversary  as  a  family  worshiping  God  together  in 
this  place. 


CyC^nyi^^ZZi,<^ 


THE     BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  391 

The  past  century  has  been  full  of  blessing,  for  from  the  very  beginning 
this  has  been  one  of  the  great  parishes  of  tiie  land.  Under  its  successive 
Rectors  it  has  stood  in  the  forefront  of  progress,  of  fearless  search  for  the 
truth,  of  real  spirituality.  Its  life  has  been  characteristic  of  the  various 
phases  of  theological  and  social  thought  for  one  hmidred  years.  It  had 
its  part  in  the  building  up  of  the  city  and  the  founding  of  its  great  future 
under  Dr.  Milnor:  it  took  its  i>]ace  in  the  van  of  the  Evangelical  Move- 
ment which  typified  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  under  the  splen- 
did leadership  of  Dr.  Tyng:  it  led  to  the  movement  for  the  Institutional 
Church,  as  exj^ressed  in  the  variety  of  its  activities,  the  Catholicity  of  its 
woi'sliip  and  the  freedom  of  its  sittings,  an  ambition  to  realize  the  '  brother- 
hood of  man  '  that  lias  been  an  inspiration  to  the  American  Church  under 
Dr.  Rainsford. 

During  all  this  period  the  effectiveness  of  the  work  of  this  Parish  has 
been  made  possible  by  its  Laity,  and  especially  by  those  men  who  have 
served  with  such  unselfislmess  and  devotion  as  its  Wardens  and  Vestrymen. 
It  is  therefore  natural  in  contemiilating  our  Hundredth  Birthday  that  we 
should  not  only  rejoice  because  of  the  manifest  blessings  of  God  in  this 
place,  but  that  we  should  also  wish  to  definitely  record  their  names  and 
commemorate  those  now  gone  to  their  rest,  who  saw  the  opportunity  in 
the  past  and  grasped  it  for  their  God. 

After  careful  consideration  we  have  reached  the  conclusion  to  build  a 
Chapel,  in  grateful  memory  of  the  years  that  have  been  and  in  com- 
memoration of  the  former  Wardens  and  Vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Parish. 
This  building  is  to  be  erected  on  the  site  of  the  house  immediately  adjoin- 
ing the  Church  to  the  north  on  Rutherford  Place.  It  will  cost,  including 
the  purchase  of  the  property,  about  a  Hundred  Thousand  Dollars:  it  will 
cover  about  2.800  square  feet  and  will  seat  a  Hundred  and  Seventy-five 
Persons.  It  is  intended  that  the  names  of  W'ardens  and  Vesti-ymen  who 
have  worked  so  eagerly  for  the  ]\Iaster  through  all  these  years  will  be 
inscribed  upon  its  walls. 

The  need  of  this  building  has  been  constantly  felt  by  all  of  us  who 
have  held  Services  in  the  Church.  It  is  impossible  to  make  our  smaller 
Services  mean  what  they  should  in  so  large  a  building.  This  Chapel,  if  it 
is  built,  will  be  used  every  day  of  tlte  year.  In  it  will  be  conducted  all  the 
weekly  Services  and  the  small  Communion  Seindces.  It  will  be  a  place 
for  many  Weddings  and  Funerals  which  cannot  possibly  fill  the  great  St. 
George's  and  it  will  add  very  really  to  our  spiritual  efficiency. 

It  cannot,  however,  be  built  without  very  real  sacrifice:  in  the  first 
place,  on  the  part  of  those  who  wish  to  commemorate  their  own  fore- 
fathers: and  in  the  second  place,  on  the  part  of  all  to  whom  this  place  has 
been  a  source  of  comfort  and  joy  these  many  years. 

Some  of  you  no  longer  go  to  old  St.  George's  because  the  times  have 
changed,  but  you  can  easily  look  back  to  the  period  when  it  meant  a  great 
deal  in  your  life.  Because  of  those  days  we  ask  you  to  contribute  to  this 
Memorial.  Some  of  you  may  not  be  particularly  interested  in  the  form 
which  our  gift  of  thanksgiving  has  taken.  We  ask  you  to  trust  the  wis- 
dom of  those  who  really  know  the  present  needs  of  the  Parish  and  this 
is  what  we  pai'ticularly  desire  in  order  to  increase  our  usefulness  at  this 
time. 

Some  of  you  who  receive  this  letter  have  much  still  to  be  thankful  for 
because  of  your  connection  here,  and  it  is  through  you  joarticularly  that 


392  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

we  hope  to  raise  this  large  sum,  for  it  would  seem  that  anything  less  would 
be  hardly  adequate  as  an  exj^ression  of  present  feelings. 

We  do  not,  however,  want  this  Chapel  to  be  built  by  a  few.  If  it  is  to 
mean  -what  it  should,  it  must  be  representative  of  all  of  you.  If  your  gift 
must  necessarily  be  small  do  not  hesitate  to  give  it,  for  its  value  is  in  pro- 
portion to  the  sacrifice  you  have  made  in  giving  it. 

This  is  an  extraordinary  occasion  and  demands  the  extraordinary  from 
you. 

Will  you  not  lift  yourselves  above  your  past  capacity  on  the  inspiration 
of  a  Century?  Remembering  tliat  this  is  a  time  for  gratitude  and  not 
the  day  to  ask  to  know  how  little,  but  to  strive  to  know  how  much. 

With  the  earnest  prayer  that  when  you  think  over  the  many  years  that 
have  been,  you  will  be  moved  to  great  things  in  your  minds  and  hearts, 
We  are  faithfully  yours, 
Hugh  Birckhead,  Rector 
J.  PiERPONT  Morgan 
R.  Fulton  Cutting  ,   ^ 

Wm.  Foulke  \  C^ommittee  on 

Charles  S.  Brown  (     ^^^^  ^""^  ^^^P^' 

William  E.  Curtis 
John  Reichert,  Secretary 

As  the  one  hundredth  year  of  St.  George's  parish  life  is  drawing 
to  its  close  the  condition  of  the  parish  may  be  summed  up  in  the 
following  statistics  as  of  date  April  1,  1911 : 

THE  PLANT 

The  Church,  Stuy^'esant  Square;  the  Rectory,  209  East  Sixteenth  Street; 
Memorial  House,  203  to  207  East  Sixteenth  Street;  Deaconess  House,  208 
and  210  East  Sixteenth  Street;  Seaside  Cottages  (3),  Rockaway  Park, 
Long  Island;  Boys'  Industrial  Trade  School,  505  East  Sixteenth  Street; 
Camp  Rainsford,  Blackball,  Connecticut;  Memorial  Chapel,  Rutherford 
Place. 

The  parish  also  has  control  of  St.  George's  Bed  in  '  Stony  Wold  Sana- 
torium,' an  Endowed  Child's  Bed  in  the  New  York  Infirmary,  Livingston 
Place,  and  owns  a  plot  in  the  New  York  Bay  Cemetery  in  Hudson  County, 
New  Jersej'. 

ENDOWMENTS 

Church  Endowment  FMni^.— Apartment-house  Nos.  173,  175,  and  177 
Third  Avenue,  value  $80,000;  business  i^roperty  No.  146  Chambers  Street, 
value  $75,000 ;  bond  investments,  par  value,  $310,000 ;  total  Church  Endow- 
ment Fund,  $465,000.  Net  income  from  Church  Endowment  Fund, 
$20,002.96. 

Endowment  Fund. — Deaconess  House,  $8,210. 

Endowment  Fund. — St.  George's  Branch,  Ladies'  Auxiliary,  Foreign 
Mission  Society,  $3,239.70. 

Endowment  Fund. — Seaside  Cottage,  Rockaway  Park,  Long  Island 
(Frederick  Danne  Bequest),  $13,726. 

Endowment  Fund. — Camp  Rainsford,  Blackball,  Connecticut,  $1,000. 

Endowment  Fund. — Spencer  Bequest  for  chapel  work,  $5,000. 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  393 

CHURCH  ORGANIZATIONS 

Sunday-school. — Scholars,  1,161;  teachers  and  officers,  158;  total,  1,319. 

Parish  Activities. — Men's  Club  and  Athletic  Club,  450;  Girls'  Friendly 
Society,  818;  Married  Women's  Society,  257;  Happy  Hour  Club,  89; 
Mothers'  Meeting,  185;  King's  Daughters,  191;  Battalion,  220;  Boys'  In- 
dustrial Trade  School,  311;  Saturday-morning  School  (boys  and  girls), 
432;  free  circulating  library;  ushers,  15,  choir,  163;  chancel  committee, 
16;  church  decoration  eommitteej  15;  Deaconess  House  committee,  13; 
neighborhood  work  among  foreigners;  and  a  summer  school  imder  the 
auspices  of  the  Federation  of  Churches. 

Parish  Belief  Work. — Carried  on  through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
Poor  Fund  derived  from  Church  collections,  subscriptions,  and  donations; 
the  Rector's  Fund;  Tuberculosis  Committee  numbering  25;  the  Women's 
Industrial  Society  of  fifteen  ladies  giving  work  to  the  poor  women  of  the 
parish.  There  was  disbursed  through  these  agencies  during  the  year  ending 
April  1,  1911,  $9,468. 

Fresh-air  Work. — During  the  summer  of  1911  at  the  Rockaway  cottages 
there  were  accommodated  635  mothers  and  children  for  a  week  and  70,  in- 
cluding fathers,  for  two  weeks.  At  Camp  Rainsford  215  boys  spent  a 
fortnight.  A  large  number  of  girls  were  placed  in  the  various  vacation 
houses  and  day  trips  were  arranged  for  others.  The  total  cost  of  this  work 
will  approximate  $7,500. 

Missionary  Work:  Foreign,  Domestic,  Etc. — St.  George's  Missionary 
Society  consisting  of  the  Church  Branch,  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement, 
Women's  Branch,  Sunday-school  Branch,  city  Mission  Branch,  Girls' 
Friendly  Branch,  King's  Daughters  Branch,  Church  Periodical  Branch, 
Total  collected  during  the  past  year,  $11,966.35,  not  including  Missionary 
boxes  valued  at  $851.77. 

PAROCHIAIi  STATISTICS 

Individuals  on  record,  7,794;  Communicants,  5,384.  For  the  year  ending 
April  1,  1911 :  Baptisms,  136 ;  Confirmations,  133 ;  Marriages,  69 ;  Burials, 
96;  total  number  communicating  during  the  year,  13,059;  services  held  on 
Sunday's  and  week-days,  745. 

The  treasurer's  report  shows  total  receipts  for  the  year  $113,468.51,  of 
which  there  was  derived  from  plate  collections  $2,460.33;  envelopes, 
$18,885.20 ;  income  from  endowment,  $20,002.96 ;  for  account  of  Memorial 
House  and  Parish  Missions,  $13,197.95;  on  account  of  Deaconess  House, 
$5,760.08;  for  Diocesan  and  other  extra  parochial  objects,  $1,080.25;  for 
General  Missions,  $11,966.25 ;  for  Seaside  Fund,  $4,834.55 ;  for  Poor  Fund, 
$1,973.84;  for  Rector's  Fund,  $5,637.27;  for  increase  of  the  endowment, 
$3,155.05 ;  for  extra  expense  of  evening  services,  $1,031.25 ;  for  purchase 
of  property.  No.  4  Rutherford  Place,  $12,658.34;  for  new  Chapel  Fund, 
$5,514.61 ;  for  deficit,  $5,000. 

The  payments  were  for  Church  account,  $37,004.67;  for  Memorial  House 
account,  $14,327.63;  for  Deaconess  House  account,  $5,760.08;  for  Parish 
Missions,  $4,655;  for  interest  on  trust  funds,  $1,020;  for  Diocesan  and 
other  extra  parochial  objects,  $1,997.35;  for  Domestic  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, $30,841.94;  for  Seaside  Fund,  $4,834.55;  for  Poor  Fimd,  $1,973.84; 
for  Rector's  Fund,  $5,637.27;  for  Sinking  Fund,  $1,000;  for  increase  of 
endowment  (invested),  $2,153.05;  for  extra  appropriations,  $2,686.29;  for 


394  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

purchase  of  site  of  new  Chapel,  $13,096.92;  for  new  Chapel  Fund  (deposit 
to  credit  of)  $5,514.61,  leaving  a  balance  to  the  new  year  of  $1,181.95. 

This  history  may  fitly  close  with  the  rector's  view  of  ''  the  promise 
of  the  future  for  St.  George's  "  as  he  describes  it  in  the  year  book 
of  1911  and  what  he  says  as  to  the  outlook  for  the  Church : 

In  November  we  are  to  hold  the  Hundredth  Amiiversary  Celebration 
to  dedicate  the  new  Chapel  and,  please  God,  to  consecrate  ourselves  anew, 
as  a  Parish,  to  the  great  and  permanent  task  of  uplift  through  contact 
wliich  is  ours.  You  will  receive  thi'ough  other  channels  the  knowledge  of 
the  details  of  what  we  plan  to  do  on  this  occasion.  I  would  dwell  on  its 
significance  here.  This  is  the  end  of  an  era,  and  wliile  we  look  back  with 
thankfulness  for  what  has  been,  we  must  also  look  foi-ward  with  faith  and 
hope  to  what  is  to  be.  The  problem  which  lies  before  us  is  the  gi'eat 
American  problem — E  plurihus  unum — how  to  bind  together  into  one  great 
sympathetic  unity  the  various,  vastly  differing  ingTedients  of  our  American 
life.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  added  a  new  chapter  to  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ,  in  so  far  as  it  dared  to  assert  and  believe  that  if  men 
WERE  FREE  THEY  WOULD  BE  BROTHERS.  It  makes  little  difference  that  the 
present  jjopulation  of  the  country,  with  its  conflicting  elements  '  from  every 
kind  and  kindred  and  nations  from  afar,'  Avas  vmdreamed  of  by  the  men 
who  framed  the  Constitution.  The  principle  remains  the  same — the  hope 
of  the  country  has  not  changed,  the  God  who  inspired  it  is  the  Father  of 
all.  It  is  the  Church's  business  primarily  to  make  this  Fatherhood  real, 
for  without  it  Brotherhood  is  impossible.  It  is  peculiarly  the  task  of  the 
Pi'otestant  Churches,  unencumbered  by  imperial  tradition,  to  practice  as 
well  as  to  preach  the  Divine  Paternity.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  exactly 
the  problem  which  confronts  St.  George's.  We  have  had  in  our  history 
three  different  congregations,  each  gathered  together  by  the  personality 
and  leadersliip  of  our  three  iirincipal  Rectors.  The  first  worshiped  in 
the  Beekman  Street  edifice  and  was  characteristic  of  the  growing  city 
of  that  day.  The  second  lived  in  the  new  and  fashionable  suburb  of 
which  Stuyvesant  Square  was  a  part ;  and  after  they  had  moved  away  the 
third  congregation  was  collected  together  largely  from  the  German  resi- 
dents of  the  same  vicinage.  The  work  in  each  case  was  a  neighborhood 
work  and  each  group  was  the  result  of  a  new  personality  and  a  new 
emphasis.  The  Germans  in  their  turn  are  giving  place  to  Italians,  Hun- 
garians, and  Jews,  so  that  now  but  one-fourth  of  the  members  of  this 
Parish  live  near  their  church. 

There  is  no  vacuum  in  New  York;  when  one  family  moves  out  another 
family  moves  in,  and  if  anything  there  are  more  people  in  need  of  wliat 
we  have  to  offer  in  our  church  to-day  than  ever  before.  They  are  not 
Episcopalians,  many  of  them  are  not  Protestants,  some  of  them  are  not 
Christians,  and  it  is  going  to  take  a  very  strong  emphasis  on  God  as  the 
Father  of  all  to  cairy  out  what  seems  to  me  the  obvious  task  of  brother- 
hood which  lies  before  this  place.  There  are  many  members  of  this  parish 
who  do  not  wish  to  see  this  duty,  who  resent  the  thought  of  the  intrusion 
of  any  alien  element  into  our  privileges;  and  if  any  such  propaganda  is 
started  there  will  be  loss  in  the  number  of  the  membership  of  St.  George's. 
One  thing  we  must  insist  upon  is  reality.     Only  the  real  is  worthy  of  con- 


THE    BIRCKHEAD    RECTORSHIP  395 

sideration  and  prayer.  It  is  not  right  for  people  who  have  been  greatly- 
benefited  by  years  of  contact,  and  because  of  that  very  uplift  have  been 
enterprising  enough  to  move  to  a  better  environment  for  their  children,  to 
retain  a  monopoly  of  what  has  been  and  should  be  a  neighborhood  privilege. 
I  would  not  lose  one  single  real  member  of  this  parish  if  I  could  help 
it ;  but  there  is  a  long  list  of  names  that  have  become  for  us  meaningless, 
and  it  is  our  first  business  to  clean  house  and  find  out  who  is  who;  to 
connect,  by  every  effort,  those  people  who  live  at  great  distances  from  us 
with  the  Churches  in  their  own  neighborhood  and  then  to  turn  our  faces 
frankly  and  steadfastly  to  the  immediate  need.  It  will  take  wisdom  and 
tact  to  preser^^e  what  is  valuable  and  actual  in  the  East  Side  membership 
of  St.  George's  of  to-day  and  yet  minister  to  the  even  greater  need  that 
lies  without  the  walls.     Both  these  things  must  be  done. 

Again,  it  may  be  necessaiy  to  place  in  a  secondary  position  the  task 
of  religious  instruction  and  worship.  Most  of  these  neighboi-s  of  ours 
could  not  understand  our  idea  of  God  and  our  method  of  approch  to  Him; 
to  expect  them  to  do  so  would  be  to  disregard  history.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  have  many  things  which  they  need,  and  we  can  help  them  through  the 
breadth  of  our  inheritance  more  really  than  any  other  organization  in  this 
particular  part  of  New  York.  It  has  been  the  custom  of  Protestant 
Churches,  too  often,  to  turn  aside  from  the  encroachment  of  the  slums 
in  order  to  presence  their  social  life  and  preference.  We  faced  this  thirty 
years  ago,  and  because  Ave  did  not  tura  away  from  the  greater  opportunity 
and  gi-eater  risk  we  were  blessed  with  a  new  birth  in  reality  and  con- 
secration. St.  George's  means  what  it  does  to  you  and  me  because  of  the 
East  Side  and  what  the  East  Side  has  meant  to  us  as  an  interpretation 
of  our  own  thought  about  God.  I  believe  the  call  has  come  again  to  make 
an  even  greater  sacrifice  of  our  own  preference  and  to  teach  the  city  and 
country  the  position  which  the  Church  alone  can  take  in  teaching  the 
inclusiveness  which  Fatherhood  implies  and  Brotherhood  demands.  Life 
is  a  vocabularv^ — with  difficulty  and  often  with  reluctance  we  leam  each 
new  word  as  it  comes.  On  the  very  last  page  of  the  book  tliere  are  two 
final  meanings  to  be  learned.  One  is  God,  as  a  loving  and  intensely  inter- 
ested Father  of  All  men,  and  the  other  is  the  word  Everybody.  It  will 
take  centuries  to  break  down  the  various  units  of  selfislmess  which  con- 
stitute the  story  of  race,  family,  tribe,  nation,  church;  but  they  must  all 
go  at  last  when  '  with  one  heart  and  one  soul  united  in  one  holy  bond 
of  truth  and  peace,  of  faith  and  charity,  with  one  mind  and  one  mouth ' 
we  glorify  the  God  who  made  us  different  from  one  another,  that  we  might 
be  united  through  our  love  for  Him.  This  is  the  future  which  I  see  before 
this  place,  and  it  will  require  the  loyal  support  and  interest  of  all  those 
who  have  made  the  work  of  the  past  possible.  Whoever  takes  it  in  hand 
must  be  given  fi'eedom  to  cany  out  the  vision  as  he  sees  it,  the  means, 
which  will  leave  him  unencumbered  with  petty  considerations,  to  insist 
upon  the  big  principles  involved,  and,  above  all,  the  belief  of  those  who 
call  themselves  members  of  the  congregation.  The  effectiveness  of  any 
organization  is  commensurate  "with  the  far-sightedness,  consecration,  and 
ability  of  its  head.  You  cannot  separate  this  individual  from  the  cause 
which  he  represents:  the  fortunes  of  the  v/hole  fabric  rise  and  fall  because 
of  him  and  not  in  spite  of  him.  If  he  is  not  fit  for  his  task  it  is  kindness 
to  him  to  dissolve  the  i^artnership ;  but  until  this  has  taken  place,  he  needs, 


396  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

he  deserves,  and  has  the  right  to  demand  the  concentrated  good-will  and 
prayers  of  all  who  wish  his  organization  well.  It  is  my  earnest  prayer 
that  there  may  be  raised  up  in  this  place  a  great  personality  and  that 
poAver  may  be  given  to  liim,  not  only  from  above,  but  from  all  those  who 
call  themselves  St.  George's,  to  create  the  broader  spirit  of  a  newer  time 
and  to  fashion  a  plan  which  shall  bring  out  a  deejDer  spirituality  and  a 
greater  inclusiveness  in  the  century  that  lies  before  us.  With  this  thought 
in  mind  I  urge  upon  you  all  the  daily  repetition  of  this  prayer: 

Lord  God,  Father  of  us  all,  who  hast  led  us  by  Thy  hand  to  the  threshold 
of  a  new  century  of  our  life,  we  lift  our  hearts  in  gratitude  to  Thee  for 
Thy  mercies  of  the  past.  And  here,  0  oiu'  God,  we  dedicate  ourselves 
anew  to  Thee  and  Thy  service.  Put  into  the  heart  of  each  one  of  us  such 
a  love  toward  Thee  that  we  may  love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves — a  love 
that  leaps  the  boundaries  of  race  or  color  or  speech — that  knows  no  dis- 
tinction of  class,  that  reaches  out  a  saving  hand  even  unto  the  least  of  these 
Thy  brethi-en.  Fill  our  lives  with  the  single  motive  of  service — and  use  us, 
Lord — use  us  for  Thine  own  purposes  just  as  Thou  wilt  and  when  and 
where,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  Amen. 


PART    II 


BIOGEAPHICAL     SKETCHES 
APPENDICES 


THE     RECTOES 

THE     REV.    JOHN    KEWLEY,    M.D. 

John  Kewley  was  born  in  England  about  1770  of  Roman  Cath- 
olic parents.  He  was  educated  across  the  Channel  at  St.  Omer, 
where  a  Roman  Catholic  college  for  British  youth  was  located, 
and  later  at  Douay,  which  contains  a  Roman  Catholic  university 
founded  by  Philip  II.  in  1562  and  a  noted  seminary  for  English 
priests.  He  spent  some  time  successively  at  the  universities  of  Lon- 
don, Edinburgh,  and  Glasgow,  at  the  last  named  receiving  the  de- 
gree of  doctor  of  medicine.  He  was  at  this  period  of  his  life,  as  he 
claimed,  "  a  sincere  professor  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  and 
continued  so  till  a  more  free  intercourse  with  the  world  led  me  into 
a  state  of  apathy  respecting  religion."  In  the  next  glimpse  ob- 
tainable of  him  in  his  somewhat  erratic  career  we  find  that  he  had 
drifted  to  one  of  the  West  India  islands  where  he  was  practising 
medicine.  He  is  said  to  have  joined  "  Lady  Huntington's  per- 
suasion "  and  preached  somewhat  among  that  body  and  the  Metho- 
dists. We  next  learn  of  him  as  residing  in  Cumberland,  Maryland, 
and  assisting  in  the  organization  of  Emmanuel  parish,  April  11, 
1803,  of  which  he  was  elected  registrar.  He  at  once  officiated  as 
lay  reader  and  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  ensuing  diocesan  con- 
vention. The  vestry  furthermore  recommended  him  to  the  Bishop 
and  Standing  Committee  as  a  candidate  for  Hol}^  Orders.  He  was 
ordered  deacon  June  19,  1803,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Claggett 
in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Prince  George  County,  the  clergymen  assisting 
in  the  service  being  the  Rev.  Henry  Lyon  Davis  and  the  Rev.  Walter 
Delany  Addison.  He  was  ordained  priest  by  the  same  bishop  in 
St.  Peter's  Church,  Baltimore,  the  priests  assisting  in  the  laying  on 
of  hands  being  the  Rev.  John  Coleman  and  the  Rev.  George  Dashiell. 
His  appointment  as  minister  of  the  parish  dates  from  January  1, 
1803,  at  a  salary  of  one  hundred  pounds  and  his  resignation  as  rector 
took  effect  January  1,  1805.  His  next  rectorship  was  in  Chester 
Parish,  Kent  County,  Maryland.  At  the  annual  convention  of  the 
diocese  Dr.  Kewley  was  the  preacher  on  Tuesday  in  Whitsun  week, 


400  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

June,  1806.  His  theme  was  the  Sacred  Mirxistry,  and  the  following 
extract  from  his  sermon  which  was  published  in  the  Churchman's 
Magazine  is  of  interest  in  view  of  the  attitude  which  he  later  as- 
sumed toward  the  Orders  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church : 

That  we,  my  reverend  brethren,  are  in  possession  of  a  ministry  instituted 
by  Christ  and  His  Apostles  is  what  I  conceive  no  Protestant  either  of  the 
Episcopalian  or  Presbyterian  denominations  will  deny,  we  having  derived 
our  orders  from  the  British  bishops,  who  are  the  acknowledged  bishops  of 
a  Church  and  nation  which  took  special  care  at  the  Refoi'mation  to  pre- 
sence that  episcopal  succession  which  she  received  with  the  Christian  re- 
ligion.   This  is  a  fact  which  is  proved  by  the  most  authentic  records. 

He  also  published  an  inquiry  into  the  validity  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopacy,  addressing  it  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Asbury. 

During  his  residence  in  Maryland,  in  addition  to  a  faithful  dis- 
charge of  his  parochial  duties,  Dr.  Kewley  did  effective  ndssionary 
work  in  various  outlying  districts. 

In  1809  he  removed  to  Connecticut  to  become  rector  of  Christ 
Church,  Middletown.  The  Rev.  Dr.  E.  E.  Beardsley,  in  his  History 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Connecticut,  writes:  '*  For  nearly  four 
years  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  influential  presbyters  in 
the  diocese.  He  was  an  eloquent  and  evangelical  preacher,  who 
gained  a  wide  popularity  and  impressed  his  hearers  in  all  places 
with  a  conviction  of  his  entire  earnestness."  He  was  honored  with 
the  confidence  of  his  brethren,  being  chosen  both  a  member  of  the 
Standing  Committee  and  a  delegate  to  the  General  Convention. 

A  noteworthy  fact  was  his  influence  upon  the  life  of  John  Prentiss 
Kewley  Henshaw,  who  became  in  1843  the  first  Bishop  of  Rhode 
Island.  He  was  a  native  of  Middletown,  born  June  13,  1792,  but 
while  he  was  quite  a  child  his  father  removed  to  Middlebury,  Ver- 
mont. After  he  had  graduated  from  Middlebury  College  in  1808 
and  been  admitted  to  Harvard  University  his  mind  was  first  deeply 
and  permanently  impressed  by  the  truths  of  religion  on  the  occasion 
of  a  visit  to  his  native  place,  where  the  Rev.  Dr.  Kewley  was  then 
ministering  with  great  energy  and  acceptance.  By  him  he  was 
baptized  and  in  token  of  a  grateful  and  affectionate  respect  adopted 
Kewley  as  a  part  of  his  baptismal  name.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Daniel 
Henshaw,  son  of  the  Bishop,  writes  of  this  circumstance : 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  for  you  to  know  that  my  father  bore  the  name 
of  Kewley  before  he  or  his  family  knew  anything  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Kewley. 
My  grandfather  had  a  bachelor  friend  in  England  who  requested,  on  hear- 
ing of  the  birth  of  my  father,  that  the  boy  should  be  named  Kewley,  after 
him,  for  that  was  his  name.     My  father  was  not  baptized  in  his  infancy. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  401 

In  some  way  this  English  friend,  Kewley,  displeased  the  family,  or  at  least 
my  father,  for  he  when  a  mere  child  took  it  into  his  head  that  he  would 
no  longer  be  called  Kewley.  The  family  were  amused,  to  say  the  least,  by 
the  child's  course,  and  thenceforward,  until  his  baptism  by  Dr.  Kewley, 
who  seems  to  have  been  in  no  way  connected  with  the  other  Mr.  Kewley, 
the  '  K '  was  dropped  from  his  name.  It  was  resumed  at  that  time  out  of 
regard  for  one  to  whom  he  was  indebted,  imder  God,  for  many  spiritual 
blessings. 

The  affectionate  relations  which  existed  between  Dr.  Kewley  and 
Mr.  Henshaw  is  attested  by  the  tone  of  a  letter  written  by  the  former 
to  the  latter,  the  original  of  which  is  in  the  archives  of  St.  George's 
Church,  dated  Middletown,  December  13,  1812,  recounting  the  con- 
siderations and  circumstances  which  led  him  to  accept  the  call  to 
St.  George's.  Another  letter,  of  which  the  original  is  also  in  the 
archives,  written  on  the  eve  of  Mr.  Henshaw 's  ordination  which 
took  place  in  June,  1813,  after  Dr.  Kewley  had  become  rector  of 
St.  George's,  contains  items  of  interest  which  warrant  its  repro- 
duction : 
Dear  Sir:  ^^"^  York,  22  April,  1813. 

I  rec'd  yours  of  the  29th  ult.  and  shall  endeavor,  should  the  packet  pass 
from  here  to  Newport,  to  be  present  at  your  Ordmation,  but  on  condition 
that  on  your  return  with  me  to  New  York  you  will  remain  with  me  at  least 
two  Sundays,  as  Mr.  Brady,  my  assistant  minister,  wishes  to  take  a  short 
journey,  and  the  services  of  our  church  are  too  heavy  for  one  clergyman. 
Indeed,  on  tliis  condition  I  will  take  the  joui-ney  by  land  if  the  i^ackets 
do  not  go.  Our  services  are,  during  winter,  three  sermons  on  Sundays  and 
a  lecture  on  Thursday  evenings.  The  lecture  on  Thursday  is  to  be  con- 
tinued during  summer,  except  for  a  few  weeks  during  the  veiy  warm 
weather.  I  have  seen  all  the  clergy  here  and  am,  apparently  at  least,  on 
good  terms  with  them  all.  My  Institution  was  on  the  25th  ult.,  Mr. 
Brady's  took  place  at  the  same  time.  I  am  much  jileased  with  him  and 
believe  him  truly  pious  and  Evangelical.  Bishop  Hobart  acted  as  in- 
stituting minister.  Rev.  S.  F.  Jarvis  officiated  at  Morning  Prayer  and 
Dr.  R.  C.  Moore  preached;  most  of  the  other  clergy  were  present.  I 
am  told  that  the  eongi'egations  are  much  larger  since  I  came  than  has 
ever  been  known  in  this  church.  Indeed,  the  church  is  pretty  well  filled, 
and  I  believe  a  good  proportion  of  the  congTegation  are  truly  pious  people. 
Mr.  Chandler  is  here;  no  plan  is  formed  respecting  his  future  destination. 
He  is  studying  in  some  measure  under  my  direction,  but  not  being  yet  fixed 
in  apartments  of  my  own,  which  I  shall  not  be  till  the  beginning  of  next 
month,  I  do  not  see  liim  as  often  as  I  could  wish.  I  do  not  think  his  senti- 
ments respecting  doctrines  are  much  changed,  nor  do  I  wish  them  to  be. 
Mr.  Noble,  I  imagine  you  know,  is  at  Middletown  and,  as  I  hear,  gives 
considerable  satisfaction.  Let  me  hear  from  you  as  soon  as  you  can  after 
receiving  this,  for  on  your  answer  must  depend  my  visit  to  Bristol.  I 
have  not  preached  out  of  St.  George's  Church  but  once,  at  St.  Paul's, 
since  I  have  been  in  this  city,  but  am  to  i^reach  at  Grace  Church  on  Sunday 
after  next. 
26 


402  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

"With  beseeching  God  to  prepare  you  by  His  grace  for  the  office  inta 
which  you  are  about  to  enter,  and  to  render  your  ministry  highly  in- 
strumental to  His  Glory,  your  own  happiness  and  salvation  and  that  of 
your  hearers,  I  conclude  and  subscribe  myself, 

Yours  affectionately, 

John  Kewley. 
Mr.  John  P.  K.  Henshaw,  Marblehead,  Mass. 

Dr.  Kewley  closed  his  acceptable  and  useful  ministry  in  Middle- 
town  on  the  10th  of  March,  1813,  when  he  delivered  a  valedictory 
discourse  which  was  published  at  the  congregation's  request.  He  at 
once  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's  and 
ministered  to  the  edification  and  acceptance  of  the  congregation. 
That  he  should  have  so  commended  himself  to  the  people,  while  at 
the  same  time  planning  to  renew  his  allegiance  to  the  Church  of 
Eome,  is  difficult  to  understand.  Pending  his  trip  abroad  in  1814^ 
he  had  expressed  himself  to  Bishop  Hobart  in  a  letter  as  uncertain 
whether  he  would  return,  and  to  the  vestr}^  he  had  written  "  that 
circumstances  might  occur  after  my  arrival  in  England  which  would 
induce  me  to  remain  there  permanently."  But  he  returned,  re- 
entered on  his  duties  and  continued  to  officiate,  even  after  his  resig- 
nation and  the  election  of  his  successor,  until  the  summer  of  1816 
when  he  sailed  for  Europe  and  disappeared  from  view.  His  letter 
to  the  Bishop  (recorded  in  this  history)  was  an  unfeigned  surprise 
to  his  best  friends.  It  is  small  wonder  that  a  strong  revulsion  in 
their  feelings  toward  and  estimate  of  liira  should  be  engendered. 
Opinions  differed  widely.  The  Church  Historian  of  Connecticut 
records : 

Many  have  believed  that  while  acting  in  our  communion  he  was  but  a 
Jesuit  in  the  disguise  of  Protestantism.  It  is  certain  that  while  in  Con- 
necticut he  tampered  Avith  one  or  two  of  the  theological  students  at  the 
Episcopal  Academy  and  advocated  the  duty  of  celibacy  in  the  clergy  with 
all  the  zeal  of  a  cloistered  bachelor  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

On  the  other  hand.  Dr.  W.  B.  Sprague,  in  his  Anrials  of  the 
American  Pulpit,  wrote : 

There  was  much  that  Avas  mysterious  in  respect  to  the  change;  but  those 
who  knew  him  best  are  said  to  have  given  him  credit  for  sincerity.  It  is  a 
singular  circumstance  that,  though  he  never  made  a  secret  of  his  havings 
been  educated  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  he  had  never  shown  either  in  public 
or  private  the  slightest  leaning  toward  the  tenets  of  that  Church.  He  is 
represented  as  having  been  a  man  of  great  meekness  and  suavity,  untiring- 
in  the  discharge  of  his  holy  functions,  and  fervent  and  effective  in  his 
preaching. 

Any  authentic  information  as  to  his  after  life  or  when  and  where 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  403 

he  died,  all  efforts  to  secure  have  failed.    The  only  thing  quite  cer- 
tain is  that,  as  he  proposed,  he  rejoined  the  Church  of  Rome. 

A  sermon  preached  in  Middletown  he  published,  under  the  title 
"  Messiah,  the  Physician  of  Souls,"  and  another  delivered  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Institution  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Whitloek  as  assistant 
minister  of  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  August  29,  1811.  A  few 
of  his  sermons  or  lectures  in  manuscript  are  preserved  in  the  archives 
of  St.  George's  Church. 


THE     REV.    JAMES    MILNOR,    D.D. 

James  Milnor  was  born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  on  the  20th 
of  June,  1773.  His  parents,  William  and  Anna  (Brientnall)  Milnor, 
were  by  birth  and  education  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 
His  father  was  originally  bred  to  the  handicraft  of  a  cooper;  but 
developing  talents  for  other  pursuits,  he  soon  engaged  in  trade  and 
at  the  period  which  introduced  the  Revolution  was  extensively  con- 
cerned in  a  fishery,  acting  at  the  same  time  as  factor  to  Colonel 
George  "Washington,  of  Mount  Vernon,  with  whom  he  had  joint 
interests  and  whose  confidence  he  largely  enjoyed.  At  the  opening 
of  the  Revolution,  despite  his  Quaker  principles,  he  was  strongly 
inclined  to  enter  the  army  and  actually  applied  for  a  commission, 
but  unexpected  circumstances  forced  him  to  withdraw  the  applica- 
tion. He  was,  however,  throughout  the  struggle  a  firm  friend  to 
the  American  cause  and  was  able  in  various  ways  to  render  it  efficient 
servnce,  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  "  read  out  of  meeting." 

Young  Milnor  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  a  gram- 
mar school  in  his  native  city  and  at  an  early  age  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  distinguished  in  his  youth  as  ever 
after  for  kindliness  of  disposition  and  soundness  of  judgment.  After 
entering  the  university  his  father's  resources  became  somewhat 
straitened,  and  being  unwilling  to  cause  him  any  embarrassment  he 
resolved  to  close  prematurely  his  collegiate  course.  He  accordingly 
left  the  university  and  commenced  the  study  of  law  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  Howell,  an  eminent  Quaker  lawyer  of  Philadelphia. 
He  continued  with  Mr.  Howell  until  1793  when  Mr.  Howell  fell 
a  victim  to  the  epidemic  of  yellow  fever.  He  then  entered  the 
office  of  Mr.  Rawle  with  whom  he  completed  the  usual  course  of 
legal  study  preparatory  to  admission  to  the  bar.  In  the  spring  of 
1794  he  was  admitted  as  an  attorney  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
for  the  County  of  Montgomery.     He  therefore  began  the  practice 


404  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

of  law  just  on  the  eve  of  reaching  his  legal  majority.  His  first 
settlement  as  a  legal  practitioner  was  at  Norristown,  and  though  so 
young  he  soon  established  a  satisfactory  practice.  Early  in  1797 
he  returned  to  Philadelphia  and  soon  enjoyed  large  and  growing 
opportunities  in  the  business  of  his  profession.  In  December,  1797, 
he  associated  himself  with  other  respectable  young  gentlemen  of 
the  city  to  form  the  "  Resolution  Fire  Company  "  composed  of 
sixty  members,  who  honored  Mr.  Milnor  with  the  office  of  president. 
He  considered  the  fire  department  a  most  important  institution  and 
took  pride  in  promoting  its  efficiency.  The  yellow  fever  ravaged 
Philadelphia  in  the  summer  of  1798  with  desolating  violence.  His 
father's  family  sought  refuge  near  Darby  and  he  himself,  retiring 
to  Norristown,  became  engaged  there  as  counsel  in  an  important 
ease  in  which  he  was  successful,  thereby  enhancing  his  legal  reputa- 
tion. But  a  far  more  important  outcome  of  his  stay  in  Norristown 
was  the  intimate  relation  which  sprung  up  between  him  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  Henry  Pawling.  For  soon  thereafter,  February  28,  1799, 
Miss  Eleanor  Pawling  became  his  wife,  a  lady  every  way  worthy  of 
his  respect  and  affection,  to  whom  he  was  deeply  attached  and  with 
whom  he  lived  most  happily  till  the  day  of  his  death.  Their  union 
was  blessed  with  seven  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  the 
other  five  surviving  him. 

Until  the  time  of  his  marriage,  Mr.  Milnor  lived  as  he  had  been 
educated,  a  Quaker,  but  as  his  wife  was  an  Episcopalian  and  he 
was  married  by  an  ordained  clergyman  of  that  Church  "  a  hireling 
minister  "  he  was  in  due  form  "  read  out  of  meeting  "  by  this  form 
of  disownment: 

James  Milnor,  of  this  city,  attorney  at  law,  who  had  a  birthright  among 
us  the  people  called  Quakers,  disregarding  the  order  of  our  discipline,  hath 
accomplished  his  marriage,  with  the  assistance  of  a  hireling  minister,  to  a 
woman  not  professing  with  us;  and,  in  his  dress  and  address,  deviated  from 
that  plainness  and  moderation  consistent  with  our  religious  profession ;  for 
which  deviations  he  hath  been  treated  with,  but  without  the  desired  effect. 
"We  therefore  no  longer  consider  him  a  memlier  of  our  religious  society; 
nevertheless,  desire  he  may  become  duly  sensible  of  his  errors  and  seek 
to  be  restored. 

But  they  were  evidently  unwilling  to  lose  a  man  whose  general 
life  was  so  irreproachable  and  who  was  so  rapidly  rising  to  influence 
in  his  native  city.  That  they  sincerely  desired  his  restoration  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  a  committee  was  appointed  to  "  treat  " 
with  him,  which  proposed  to  reinstate  him  on  some  slight  acknowl- 
edgment of   error.      He   received   their   proposal   courteously,    but 


BIOGRAPHICAL     SKETCHES  405 

facetiously  replied  that  it  was  "  rather  too  much  to  ask  of  a  man 
whose  honeymoon  was  scarcely  ended  and  that  he  must  decline. ' ' 

Mr.  Milnor  began  in  1798  the  practice  of  recording  notes  of  his 
daily  life  and  of  public  occurrences,  coupled  with  his  reflections 
thereon — a  practice  which  he  found  most  pleasing  and  profitable. 
The  first  entry  in  this  diary  revealed  his  purpose,  maintained 
throughout  his  whole  career,  never  to  incur  a  debt  which  he  had 
not  the  means  to  discharge  and  under  all  circumstances  to  live 
within  his  income,  whatever  it  might  be.  Starting  with  such  prin- 
ciples, it  is  not  surprising  that  he  was  blessed  with  an  accumulating 
fortune.  His  legal  practice  fostered  the  cultivation  of  those  busi- 
ness habits  which  were  of  utmost  value  to  him  in  his  later  life.  His 
strict  integrity  and  the  universal  confidence  which  he  inspired  won 
for  him  the  honorable  epithet  of  '*  the  honest  lawyer."  At  one 
time  he  was  prosecuting  a  claim  against  that  distinguished  Phila- 
delphia merchant,  Stephen  Girard,  to  find  himself  thwarted  by  every 
obstacle  which  immense  wealth  and  influence  could  interpose.  But 
when  at  last  a  judgment  for  the  plaintiff  was  secured  Mr.  Girard 
observed,  as  he  handed  Mr.  Milnor  a  check  for  the  amount  awarded : 
"  You  have  proved  yourself,  sir,  a  lawyer  who  will  never  desert  a 
client.  If  I  had  not  an  attorney  whom  I  very  much  respect,  you 
would  be  my  man."  His  standing  as  a  la\vyer  was  not  only  based 
upon  his  character  for  honesty  and  fidelity,  but  upon  his  prudent 
caution  and  sound  judgment  in  forming  opinions  and  his  decided 
promptness  and  energy  of  action.  His  industry  was  untiring,  and 
his  diligence  in  business  and  in  study,  his  punctuality  in  meeting 
engagements,  and  his  strict  adherence  to  method  all  contributed  to 
his  marked  professional  success.  Moreover,  he  was  characterized 
by  great  amiability  of  disposition  and  suavity  of  manner  which  won 
him  hosts  of  friends. 

In  October,  1805,  Mr.  Milnor  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Select 
Council  of  Philadelphia  to  fill  a  two  years'  vacancy,  having  already 
served  a  term  as  Common  Councilman  in  1800.  In  1807  he  was  re- 
elected for  three  years  to  the  Select  Council  and  in  1808  was  made 
president  of  that  body.  In  October,  1810,  he  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  the  city  and 
county  of  Philadelphia,  the  only  successful  Federalist  candidate  in 
what  was  then  a  Democratic  constituency.  He  soon  became  a  highly 
active  and  influential  member,  although  as  a  decided  Federalist  he 
was  in  the  minority  party.  He  opposed  the  War  of  1812  with  Great 
Britain  with  much  zeal  and  ability.  At  one  of  his  speeches.  May,, 
1812,  Henry  Clay,  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  took  offense  and  chal- 


406  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

lenged  him  to  a  duel,  which  challenge  Mr.  Milnor  courageously  and 
dignifiedly  declined.  His  three  years'  Congressional  service  closed 
March  4,  1813. 

It  was  during  the  last  term  of  his  career  in  Congress  that  the 
great  spiritual  change  came  over  him  which  gave  such  new  direction 
to  his  life.  He  had  been  thoroughly  a  man  of  the  world,  and,  though 
never  chargeable  with  any  moral  delinquency,  was  fond  of  fashion- 
able society,  the  theater,  and  worldly  gaieties  and  was  governed  by 
the  maxims  and  the  spirit  of  the  world  rather  than  by  those  of 
religion.  Personally  popular  and  everywhere  welcomed,  warm  and 
generous  in  his  friendships,  he  was  incorruptibly  high-minded  in  his 
business  and  political  life,  inspired  by  truest  patriotism,  and  gifted 
with  no  little  sagacity  in  the  philosophy  of  politics  and  the  conduct 
of  affairs,  but  he  had  been  up  to  this  time  without  any  true  appre- 
ciation or  real  experience  of  personal  religion.  He  had  attended 
worship  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia,  but  in 
the  fall  of  1809,  wearying  of  Calvinistic  teaching,  he  transferred  his 
allegiance  to  St.  James'  Episcopal  Church  and  was  a  respectful 
hearer  of  sermons,  reflecting  upon  their  contents  and  writing  out 
from  memory  their  substance  in  his  diary.  He  was  elected  vestry- 
man soon  after  taking  a  pew  in  St.  James'  and  became  considerably 
engaged  in  the  secular  affairs  of  the  parish.  He  served  as  a  lay 
delegate  to  the  Pennsylvania  Convention  in  1811  and  in  May  of  the 
same  year  was  sent  as  a  representative  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  the  Church  which  met  in  New  Haven. 

On  his  way  to  New  Haven  he  spent  a  Sunday  in  New  York,  where 
he  met  and  had  a  pleasant  interview  with  Dr.  John  Henry  Hobart, 
whom  in  a  letter  to  his  wife  he  styles  ' '  one  of  my  earliest  and  most 
intimate  friends. ' '  They  had  been  school-boys  together.  Dr.  Hobart 
was  then  bishop-elect  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York.  How  little  did 
either  of  them  forecast  the  relations  which  in  after  years  they  would 
sustain  to  each  other. 

Meanwhile  his  interest  in  religion  grew  apace.  A  correspondence 
with  a  lifelong  friend,  whose  own  recent  experience  of  the  grace  of 
God  impelled  him  to  seek  earnestly  Mr.  Milnor 's  conversion,  con- 
tributed to  shape  the  latter 's  thoughts  and  feelings  in  the  right 
direction.  The  preaching  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Pilmore  at  St.  Paul's  and 
that  of  Bishop  White  and  his  assistants.  Dr.  Abercrombie  and  the 
Rev.  Jackson  Kemper  in  St.  James',  awakened  thoughts  and  senti- 
ments in  him  which  were  productive  of  results.  In  a  letter  to  the 
latter  addressed  to  him  "  confidentially  as  a  friend  and  most 
seriously  and  respectfully  as  an  ambassador  of  God  and  one  of 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  407 

those  appointed  to  minister  in  holy  things  "  he  says  in  February, 
1813 : 

Religion  has,  in  a  vague  and  unsettled  manner,  affected  my  mind  oc- 
casionally from  my  earliest  recollection.  Sometimes  it  has  warmed  and 
animated  my  heart.  Sometimes  I  have  been  involved  in  speculations  calcu- 
lated to  lessen  its  effect  as  the  governing  principle  and  rule  of  life  and 
conduct;  and  sometimes,  by  subtracting  from  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
Christianitj'',  I  have  weakened  its  divine  authority  and  made  it  a  mere 
system  of  morality,  which  the  human  mind,  limited  as  it  is,  might  have 
been  competent  to  frame  without  the  intervention  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
Most  High  or  the  sufferings  and  death  of  His  blessed  Son. 

In  the  providence  of  God,  I  have  had  my  mind  drawn  to  this  interesting 
subject  in  a  way  which  I  have  never  before  experienced. 

After  a  brief  account  of  the  progress  of  the  spiritual  change  which 
had  been  wrought  in  him  he  ventures  to  propose  that  he  present 
himself  for  Confirmation  and  the  reception  of  the  Supper  of  the 
Lord  on  the  first  convenient  opportunity  after  his  return  from 
Washington  to  Philadelphia  and  requests  Mr.  Kemper's  counsel  and 
-assistance  as  to  his  future  course. 

As  the  close  of  his  Congressional  term  approached  his  anxiety 
to  get  out  of  political  life  became  more  intense,  for  he  was  sick 
of  the  unprincipled  demagoguism  and  corruption  which  charac- 
terized so  much  of  it.  He  dreaded  to  go  back  to  legal  practice  be- 
cause he  shrunk  from  the  temptation  to  "  make  the  worse  appear 
the  better  reason  "  and  the  apparent  necessity  of  sometimes  ad- 
vocating or  defending  an  unrighteous  cause. 

His  final  decision  to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the  work 
of  the  sacred  ministry  was  reached  soon  after  his  return  to  Phila- 
delphia, for  on  the  3d  of  April  he  called  on  Bishop  White  and  ac- 
quainted him  with  his  determination  to  relinquish  the  profession 
of  the  law  and  with  the  views  which  he  entertained  of  entering  on 
the  study  of  divinity  and  applied  through  him  to  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Diocese  for  admission  as  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders. 
He  then  arranged  his  temporal  affairs  with  a  view  to  retirement  into 
the  country  for  the  more  quiet  prosecution  of  his  studies  and  on 
June  2d  removed  his  family  to  Norristown.  Here,  under  the  bishop 's 
license,  he  assumed  the  labors  of  a  lay  reader  in  St.  John's  parish. 
Thus  Norristown,  which  gave  him  his  beloved  life  partner  and  which 
was  the  scene  of  his  earliest  practice  of  the  law,  became  his  earliest 
field  in  the  service  of  the  gospel. 

Among  those  who  were  surprised  and  interested  in  Mr.  Milnor's 
resolution  to  enter  the  ministry  was  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke, 


408  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

who  in  Congress  had  been  favorably  impressed  by  the  representative 
from  Philadelphia.  He  wrote  to  a  friend  under  date  June  2,  1813 : 
"  "What  you  tell  me  of  Milnor  is  quite  unexpected.  He  was  one  of 
the  last  men  I  should  have  expected  to  take  Orders ;  not  so  much  on 
account  of  his  quitting  a  lucrative  profession  as  from  his  fondness 
for  a  gay  life.  I  am  not  sure  but  that  it  is  the  safest  path.  The 
responsibility  is  awful — it  is  tremendous ! ' ' 

His  own  views  on  the  subject  are  expressed  in  the  following  letter 
to  his  friend  Bishop  Hobart  preserved  in  the  Hobart  MSS. : 

Philadelphia,  May  6,  1814. 
R.  Rev'd  &  Dear  Sir: 

I  return  you  many  thanks  for  your  kind  letter  by  our  friend  Mr.  Kemper 
and  entirely  concur  in  your  elevated  opinion  of  the  purity  of  the  doctrines 
and  the  excellency  of  the  order  and  worship  of  our  Church.  A  clear 
conviction  of  the  entire  conformity  of  both  to  scripture  and  to  primitive 
usage  induced  me  to  become  an  Episcopalian  and  subsequent  examination 
has  strengthened  and  confirmed  my  first  impressions.  The  determination 
to  become  an  humble  advocate  of  our  blessed  religion  agreeably  to  the 
tenets  and  ritual  of  a  Church  built  upon  the  foundation  of  Christ  and 
His  Apostles,  although  the  result  of  decided  apprehension  of  duty,  has 
been  a  matter  of  much  more  difficulty.  The  extended  range  of  study  which 
it  opens  and  the  increased  responsibility  connected  with  an  entrance  upon 
the  duties  of  the  ministiy,  compared  with  my  personal  qualifications  for 
the  midertaking  either  on  the  score  of  knowledge  or  of  grace,  sometimes 
fill  my  mind  with  the  most  discouraging  fears.  The  affectionate  terms  in 
which  you  have  been  pleased  to  express  your  good  wishes  towards  me  are 
well  calculated  to  assist  in  allaying  them,  for  nothing  can  be  a  more  inspiring 
incentive  to  duty  and  exertion  in  a  beginner  than  the  countenance  and 
friendship  of  a  veteran  in  similar  pursuits.  And  your  letter  affords  me 
the  animating  assurance  of  an  interest  in  the  regards  of  one  whose  honor- 
able rank  in  the  Church  does  not  more  distinguish  him  than  his  superior 
talents  and  virtues.  Be  assured,  my  dear  sir,  that  your  good  wishes  are 
highly  acceptable  and  that  I  shall  consider  it  a  favor  of  no  small  value 
to  be  remembered  in  your  prayers.  Accept  mine  for  the  preservation  of 
your  health  and  a  long  continuance  of  your  usefulness  to  the  cause  of 
religion  and  the  Church.  I  rejoice  in  the  pleasing  hope  of  soon  seeing 
you  in  our  city  and  remain  with  great  respect  and  esteem. 

Very  truly  yours, 

James  Milnor. 

Bight  Eevd.  Doctor  Hohart. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  as  showing  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held 
and  the  value  set  upon  his  prospective  labors  that  very  soon  after 
his  intended  change  of  profession  became  known  he  was  urgently 
invited  to  accept  the  charge  of  two  of  the  most  important  churches 
in  the  South — one  in  Baltimore  and  one  in  Richmond.  But  de- 
clining both  he  reserved  himself,  in  accordance  with  Bishop  White's 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  409 

desire,  for  service  under  him  in  the  united  churches  of  Christ  Church, 
St.  Peter's,  and  St.  James  of  which  he  was  the  rector. 

His  duties  as  lay  reader  at  Norristown  were  of  unexpectedly 
short  duration,  being  interrupted  by  a  serious  illness  which  attacked 
first  himself  and  then  Mrs.  Milnor.  On  their  recovery  they  decided 
to  return  to  the  city,  where  late  in  the  fall  he  resumed  his  theological 
studies. 

In  the  following  year,  being  forty-one  years  of  age,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  diaconate  by  Bishop  White  in  St.  James'  Church 
August  14,  1814,  and  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  the  same 
bishop  in  the  same  church  August  27,  1815.  Plis  first  sermon  was 
preached  in  St.  Peter's  Church  on  the  afternoon  of  the  day  in  which 
he  was  ordained  on  the  text,  "  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ."  On  the  21st  of  December  following  he  was  unanimously 
elected  by  the  vestry  a  minister  of  the  united  churches  in  Phila- 
delphia, which  position  he  accepted  and  whose  duties  he  diligently 
discharged  until  his  removal  to  New  York.  "  His  brief  ministry  in 
Philadelphia,"  writes  his  friend  Bishop  Henshaw,  "  was  marked 
with  the  same  fearless  exposition  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  the 
same  earnest  enforcement  of  the  duties  of  practical  godliness,  the 
same  burning  love  for  souls  and  laborioTis  effort  for  their  salvation 
by  which  it  was  ever  characterized  in  after  life  and  in  other  spheres. 
It  was  attended  with  an  important  influence  in  elevating  the  stand- 
ard of  piety  in  the  parish  with  which  he  was  specially  connected 
and  in  strengthening  the  cause  of  truth  and  godliness  in  the  com- 
munity at  large." 

Early  in  1816  he  was  made  aware  of  a  movement  in  St.  George's 
Church,  New  York,  looking  to  his  future  rectorship  of  that  parish. 
At  first  he  was  but  little  disposed  to  listen  to  the  overtures,  but 
finally  becoming  satisfied  it  was  his  duty  to  accept  the  call  he  parted 
with  his  Philadelphia  charge  with  great  reluctance  and  was  in- 
stituted rector  by  his  old  friend  Bishop  Hobart  September  30,  1816. 
A  reviewer  of  his  Memoir  in  the  Church  Review  of  April,  1849,  says : 

From  this  time,  during  the  thirty  years  which  elapsed  before  his  decease, 
the  Christian  and  ministerial  life  of  Dr.  Milnor  was  'a  spectacle  to  the 
world';  and  surely,  in  its  leadino^  features  and  in  its  noble  results,  it  was 
a  lovely  and  interesting  one.  We  doubt  not  that  angels,  as  well  as  good 
men,  might  contemplate  it  with  adrairation  and  delight.  Although,  owing 
to  peculiar  influences  and  cii'cumstances  of  the  times,  he  was  seldom  called 
to  any  of  those  posts  of  honor  or  trust  in  the  gift  of  the  diocese  to  which 
his  age,  talents,  character,  and  station  might  have  seemed  to  entitle  him, 
yet  as  an  humble  but  venerated  presbyter  he  faithfully  applied  himself  to 
the  appropriate  duties  of  his  diocesan  relationships.    Uniformly  respecting 


410  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

episcopal  authority,  cheerfully  rendering  canonical  obedience,  and  earnestly 
desiring  the  harmony  and  prosperity  of  the  body  to  which  he  belonged — • 
but  ever  ready  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  conscience  and  enjoy  the  freedom 
which  the  Church  allows — he  silently  and  unofficially  exerted  an  influence 
which  was  widely  and  jjermanently  felt  in  the  affairs  of  the  diocese. 

His  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  was  received  from  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1819. 

His  published  discourses  were:  A  Sermon  preached  in  St. 
George's  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  a  public  day  of 
Thanksgiving  appointed  by  His  Excellency,  De  Witt  Clinton,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  New  York,  1817 :  A  Sermon  occasioned  by  the 
death  of  His  Excellency,  De  Witt  Clinton,  late  Governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  preached  at  St.  George's  Church,  New  York, 
1828;  Two  Sermons  in  the  National  Preacher,  1836;  A  Charitable 
Judgment  of  the  Opinions  and  Conduct  of  Others  recommended, 
being  the  last  sermon  preached  by  the  author  in  St.  George's 
Church,  1845. 

The  testimonials  to  the  character  and  services  of  Dr.  Milnor  re- 
ceived by  the  vestry  and  directed  to  be  entered  on  their  minutes 
(see  page  159)  are  too  voluminous  to  be  inserted  here.  Extracts 
only  from  them  can  be  given. 

That  of  the  clergy  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn  attested  by  Thomas 
Lyell,  chairman,  and  Benjamin  I.  Haight,  secretary,  records : 

We  delight  to  recognize  in  the  character  of  the  brother  whose  loss  we 
deplore  a  rare  and  beautiful  combination  of  those  virtues  which  are  calcu- 
lated to  win  love  and  inspire  confidence  while  they  command  reverence 
and  respect — the  uniform  consistancy  with  which  he  illustrated  in  his  life 
the  heavenly  precepts  he  so  earnestly  taught;  the  judicious  intrepidity 
with  which  he  contended  for  what  he  believed  to  be  essentially  true;  the 
liberty  he  was  ever  willing  to  concede  to  others  of  judging  for  themselves 
in  things  doubtful;  the  boundless  charity  which  led  liim  to  love  all  men 
and  to  hope  for  all  things  in  the  frail  and  the  erring;  his  serene  and  ever 
cheerful  temper,  the  soothing  tenderness  of  his  manner,  his  attractive  and 
gentlemanly  bearing,  and  his  conciliating  spirit;  the  freeness  with  which 
he  was  perpetually  dispensing  of  the  abimdance  with  which  God  had  blessed 
him  to  feed  the  hungry  and  to  clothe  the  destitute;  the  assiduity  with 
which  he  labored  even  to  the  last  hours  of  his  life  to  sustain  institutions 
for  the  relief  of  human  wretchedness,  for  dispelling  the  darkness  of  igno- 
rance, for  reclaiming  the  sinful  and  to  ennoble  the  debased. 

The  tribute  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  with  which  he  had 
been  officially  connected  during  the  twenty  years  of  its  existence, 
said: 

Dr.  Milnor's  mental  endowments,  in  their  singularly  happy  combination, 
his  exemplary  piety,  purity  of  life,  benevolence,  charity,  and  usefulness 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  411 

had  invested  him  Avith  a  wide-spread  and  constantly  gi-owing  influence 
and  weight  of  character  which  is  the  lot  of  veiy  few  ever  to  attain.  His 
praise  is  in  all  the  Churches,  and  perhaps  no  other  man  at  the  present 
time  could  have  been  taken  from  us  more  universally  and  deeply  lamented. 
*  A  Prince  and  great  man  has  fallen  in  Israel.' 

The  Foreign  Committee  of  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  placed  on  record: 

We  cherish  a  high  appreciation  of  the  sacrifices,  the  revered  subject  of 
these  resolutions  made  in  the  holy  cause  in  which  we  are  engaged,  when  at 
an  advanced  period  of  life,  with  precarious  health  and  before  the  cause  of 
Foreign  Missions  had  won  the  regard  of  the  Chui-ch  m  general,  he  con- 
sented to  take  the  office  of  secretary  and  to  submit  to  the  continued  exposure 
and  fatigi;e  of  a  traveling  agency;  and  we  can  trace  back  to  his  cheerfid 
and  honorable  advocacy  of  this  cause  at  a  most  critical  moment  some  of 
the  most  important  elements  of  its  future  success  and  to  his  disinterested 
faithful  and  persevering  zeal,  his  talents  and  influence,  the  present  flouiish- 
ing  state  of  this  benignant  undertaking. 

The  Council  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York  resolved : 

That  we  cherish  the  highest  regard  for  the  memoiy  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Milnor  as  a  man  of  distinguished  intelligence,  purity  of  manner,  and  in- 
tegrity of  character,  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel  whose  liberality,  activity, 
and  usefulness  will  long  be  remembered  in  the  Christian  Church  and  as  a 
patron  of  learning  and  science  who  was  among  the  earliest  friends  and 
supporters,  not  only  of  this  University,  but  also  of  other  institutions  which 
are  now  spreading  abroad  the  means  of  knowledge  in  our  city  and  our 
land. 

The  Hon.  R.  H.  Walworth,  L.L.D.,  Chancellor  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  wrote  of  him : 

Though  there  Avas  nothing  in  his  preaching  that  had  the  semblance  of 
an  attempt  to  appear  gi-eat,  yet  there  was  a  vein  of  excellent  sense  and 
sound  scriptural  instruction,  together  with  a  winning  kindliness  of  manner 
and  a  deep  apparent  solicitude  for  the  salvation  of  his  hearers  and  the 
honor  of  his  Master,  that  could  hardly  fail  to  command  an  earnest  at- 
tention. Although  entirely  fearless  in  condemning  and  opposing  what  he 
considered  dangerous  error  in  whatever  form  it  might  appear,  he  sought 
rather  to  convince  by  argument  than  to  overwhelm  by  denunciation.  I  be- 
lieve that  his  manner  of  presenting  truth  to  the  minds  of  his  hearers  was 
always  persuasive.  He  generally  made  them  feel  that  he  was  deeply  and 
heartily  interested  in  his  own  message;  and  that  he  preached  the  terrors  of 
the  law,  not  less  than  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  in  perfect  love. 
The  same  delightful  spirit  of  conciliation  which  he  breathed  in  the  pulpit 
he  manifested  in  all  his  intercourse  with  his  people  and  with  society  at 
large,  sustaining  under  all  circumstances  the  character  of  a  perfect  Chris- 
tian gentleman. 


412  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

The  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  Dr.  Manton  Eastburn,  who  had  been 
in  earlier  life  a  communicant  of  St.  George's,  in  an  article  in  the 
Episcopal  Observer  wrote: 

Who  that  knew  liim  can  ever  forget  the  good  humor  and  frankness  of 
his  ruddy  countenance  when  mingling  as  a  brother  with  his  brethren? 
From  his  face  and  from  liis  tong-ue  there  was  a  perennial  flow  of  those 
ehaiities  which  sweeten  life.  No  dark  distrast  and  concealment  lowered 
upon  his  brow;  and  the  transparent  freeness  of  his  eminently  social  nature 
banished  all  distrust  from  others.  As  his  years  increased  this  happy  blend- 
ing of  the  two  qualities  of  firmness  and  love  was  more  and  more  developed. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  nearer  he  api^roached  the  close  of  his  pilgrimage  the  more 
softened  and  mellow  he  became.  How  many  bright  and  cheerful  scenes 
during  the  latter  part  of  his  life  now  arise  before  my  memory,  which  served 
at  the  time  of  their  occurrence  and  now  serve  to  convince  me  that  he  was, 
perhaps,  the  richest  specimen  to  be  found  among  us  of  a  Christian  gentle- 
man !  His  manners  were  not  that  mere  exterior  polish  which  is  the  effect 
of  adventitious  circumstances.  They  were  the  result  and  the  index  of  a 
heart,  which,  naturally  generous,  had  by  the  grace  of  God  been  warmed 
into  that  sunny  and  genial  state  of  affection  which  sheds  upon  all  who 
come  within  its  influence  beams  of  benignity  and  gladness. 


THE    EEV.    STEPHEN    H.    TYNG,   D.D. 

Stephen  Higginson  Tyng  was  born  of  distinguished  New  Eng- 
land ancestry  in  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  March  1,  1800.  His 
parents  were  the  Hon.  Dudley  Atkins  Tyng  and  Sarah  Higginson. 
He  was  baptized  by  Dr.  Edward  Bass,  first  Bishop  of  Massachusetts, 
in  St.  Paul 's  Church,  Newburyport,  of  which  he  was  then  rector,  and 
made  his  first  communion  in  the  same  church  nineteen  years  later; 
and  also  two  years  subsequently  preached  in  it  his  first  Sunday  ser- 
mon after  ordination.  This  church  was  therefore  always  associated 
in  his  mind  with  cherished  memories. 

The  family  in  1805  removed  to  Boston.  In  the  following  year 
he  was  sent  to  a  boarding-school  in  Quincy  where  he  remained  five 
years.  The  family  church  in  Boston  was  Trinity,  a  plain  wooden 
structure  built  in  1735,  of  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner  was  rector, 
to  whom  young  Tyng  recited  his  catechism  in  the  vestry-room.  In 
1811  he  was  sent  for  a  year  to  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover  and 
found  much  blessing  in  the  spiritual  atmosphere  created  by  the 
neighboring  seminary  recently  established.  But  the  most  profitable 
year  of  his  school  life  was  the  last,  spent  in  a  private  boarding-school 
in  Brighton  near  Boston  kept  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Allen,  a  distin- 
guished teacher,  whose  personal  interest  in  his  pupils  secured  their 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  413 

proficiency  in  study  and  their  grateful  attachment  to  himself.  He 
entered  Harvard  at  thirteen  years  of  age  in  a  class  of  eighty-six, 
among  whom  were  George  Bancroft  and  Caleb  Gushing.  The  fam- 
ily had  meanwhile  moved  to  Gambridge,  that  Stephen  and  his 
brother  Dudley  might  live  at  home  while  studying  in  college.  Dur- 
ing his  Junior  year  he  was  confirmed  by  Bishop  Griswold  in  the 
Gambridge  Church.  The  two  years  after  graduation  were  passed 
in  Boston  in  the  employ  of  S.  G.  Perkins  &  Company,  a  large  East 
India  firm,  where  Mr.  Tyng  acquired  business  habits  and  experience 
of  commercial  methods  and  matters  which  proved  invaluable  in  his 
after  life. 

He  left  the  counting-house  in  August,  1819,  impelled  by  the  con- 
viction of  a  call  to  seek  the  sacred  ministry.  He  went  to  live  in 
Bristol  and  pursued  the  study  of  theolog}^  under  the  eye  and  guid- 
ance of  the  venerable  Bishop  Griswold,  a  man  whose  scholarly  at- 
tainments, simplicity  of  character,  and  unaffected  godliness  left  an 
indelible  impress  upon  his  candidates  for  orders.  The  Bishop  taught 
him  pastoral  theology  by  taking  him  upon  his  rounds  of  visits  to 
the  poor  and  to  the  prayer-meetings  which  he  so  helpfully  con- 
ducted. When  absent  on  his  visitations  special  responsibilities  de- 
volved upon  his  students  as  lay  readers,  and  Mr.  Tyng  had  every 
opportunity  to  gain  experience  in  parish  work  and  in  extemporane- 
ous speech.  A  wonderful  revival  of  religion  took  place  in  Bristol 
and  the  surrounding  country  early  in  1820,  and  the  active  part 
which  he  was  privileged  to  take  in  it  proved  of  incalculable  value 
in  his  practical  and  spiritual  preparation  for  his  future  work.  His 
father  wishing  him  to  prosecute  his  further  studies  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Jarvis  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  he  returned  to  Boston  and  the 
Bishop  gave  him  charge  as  a  lay  reader  of  the  little  church  in 
Quincy.  But  the  close  of  the  year  found  him  once  more  in  Bristol 
teaching  in  the  academy  for  self-support  while  finishing  his  studies. 
His  ordination  took  place  in  St.  Michael's  Church  after  examina- 
tion by  the  Bishop  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jarvis,  who  kindly  came  from 
Boston  to  preach  on  the  occasion.  No  parish  opening  appearing  in 
Bishop  Griswold 's  diocese,  he  started  for  New  York,  where  he  was 
cordially  received  by  Dr.  Wainwright  of  Grace  Church,  by  Bffehop 
Hobart,  and  by  Dr.  Milnor.  He  preached  for  him  in  St.  George's, 
and,  taking  letters  from  the  rector  to  various  brethren  further  south, 
he  reached  the  District  of  Columbia  in  whose  three  cities  there  were 
five  churches  with  earnest  rectors  of  the  Evangelical  type — ^William 
Hawley  in  St.  John's,  "Washington,  Dr.  William  H.  Wilmer  and 
Mr.  Oliver  Norris  in  Alexandria,  and  in  Georgetown  Charles  P. 


414  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Mcllvaine  and  Walter  D.  Addison.  The  last  named,  rector  of  St. 
John's,  resigned  through  failing  health  and  nominated  Mr.  Tyng 
as  his  successor.  He  was  at  once  elected  and  accepted  the  position 
and  was  received  with  general  cordiality  by  the  influential  and 
intelligent  people  of  the  congregation.  While  repairs  upon  the 
church  were  being  made  during  the  summer  months  he  journeyed 
back  to  Bristol  to  claim  the  daughter  of  the  bishop  for  his  wife, 
and  they  were  married  August  5th ;  and  after  visiting  in  Boston 
and  Newburyport  reached  Georgetown  in  September.  After  a  two 
years'  ministry  in  Georgetown  he  accepted  a  call  to  Queen  Anne's 
Parish  in  Prince  George's  County,  Maryland,  at  Easter,  1823. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  Alexandria  Seminary  came  into 
being  in  the  lecture-room  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  the  Rev.  Reuel  Keith 
with  Dr.  Wilmer  and  Mr.  Norris  constituting  the  faculty.  With 
the  steps  which  resulted  in  its  establishment  Mr.  Tyng  was  closely 
identified  and  always  remained  among  its  loyal  and  devoted  friends. 
After  six  years'  ministry  in  this  country  parish,  involving  extended 
missionary  tours  on  horseback,  he  accepted  the  rectorship  of  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Philadelphia,  one  of  the  most  venerable  of  the  city 
churches,  in  May,  1829.  His  success  in  the  rectorship  was  immediate 
and  marked.  The  old  church  building,  however,  which  had  been 
erected  in  1760  was  very  uncomfortable  and  the  rector  proposed  a 
renewing  and  remodeling  of  the  building  for  the  convenience  of  the 
increasing  work.  The  vestry  acquiesced  in  the  plans  proposed,  but 
some  of  the  older  members  of  the  congregation  regarded  them  as 
little  short  of  sacrilege.  On  the  completion  of  the  work  the  renewed 
edifice  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  White  in  January,  1831. 

The  Sunday-school  work  had  been  for  years  a  feature  in  St.  Paul 's, 
and  the  increased  accommodations  now  secured  made  practicable  its 
increased  efficiency.  After  three  years  of  happy  and  efficient  work 
the  rector  was  bereaved  of  his  devoted  and  accomplished  wife  in 
the  spring  of  1832.  In  July  of  the  following  year  he  was  united 
in  marriage  by  Bishop  White  to  the  second  daughter  of  his  esteemed 
friend,  Thomas  Mitchell,  who  was  spared  to  be  the  loving  helpful 
partner  of  his  joys  and  sorrows  through  the  remainder  of  his 
life. 

Upon  coming  to  Philadelphia  he  at  once  engaged  in  active  and 
energetic  support  of  the  various  forms  of  benevolent  and  religious 
effort,  both  those  identified  with  his  own  church  and  those  which 
included  Christians  of  other  names.  He  was  especially  interested 
in  the  aims  and  methods  of  the  American  Sunday  School  Union 
and  was  its  powerful  advocate  and  supporter.    He  was  zealous  for 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  415 

the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  in  1830  was 
elected  one  of  its  Board  of  Directors,  and  in  1833  was  appointed  on 
its  Executive  Committee.  His  position  as  a  pronounced  Evangelical 
was  promptly  assumed  and  unflinchingly  maintained.  St.  Paul's 
was  the  original  Evangelical  Church  in  Philadelphia.  Others  had 
later  been  established  of  which  St.  Andrew's  on  Eighth  Street  was 
the  largest  and  most  popular.  Tenth  Street  was  the  western  boun- 
dary of  settled  population  in  those  days.  But  with  faith  in  the 
future  a  number  of  influential  people  from  different  parishes  organ- 
ized the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1833  invited 
Mr.  Tyng  to  become  its  rector.  This  new  responsibility  he  accepted 
with  the  intention  of  continuing  for  the  present  his  services  in  St. 
Paul's.  But  the  vestry  of  that  church  deeming  this  plan  prejudicial 
to  the  interests  of  their  corporation  requested  his  resignation  of 
the  rectorship  with  which  request  he  reluctantly  complied.  The 
corner-stone  of  the  Epiphany  was  laid  by  Bishop  "White  March  24, 
1834,  and  public  worship  was  begun  in  the  finished  basement  in  the 
following  August,  and  on  October  24th  the  church  was  consecrated. 
There  were  occasions  when  great  difficulty  and  discouragement  at- 
tended the  new  enterprise.  The  liberality  of  its  promoters  was  taxed 
to  the  utmost.  But  united  effort  and  devotion  to  the  work  of  es- 
tablishing a  strong  center  of  influence  in  support  of  evangelical 
principles  secured  the  end  in  view.  Bishop  Thomas  M.  Clark  in  his 
Beminiscences  thus  speaks  of  the  rector  of  the  Epiphany: 

It  was  in  the  prime  of  his  most  vigorous  daj^s  that  he  entered  uj^on  the 
bold  experiment  of  starting  a  new  enteriDrise  in  what  was  then  the  outskirts 
of  the  city  and  with  nothing  but  the  probabilities  of  the  future  to  lean 
upon.  The  triumph  of  this  bold  movement  was  very  complete,  and  the 
Church  of  the  Epiphany  became  the  center  of  a  mighty  religious  influence 
and  was  constantly  thronged  by  a  multitude  who.  attracted  to  the  church 
at  fii'st  by  their  admiration  of  his  fiery  eloquence,  after  a  wlule  were  led,  by 
the  power  of  the  gospel  truth  which  he  exjjounded  to  them,  to  become  the 
faithful  followers  of  Jesus. 

Dr.  Tyng  never  had  his  own  way  more  entirely  than  he  did  wliile  he 
was  in  charge  of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  and  this  absolute  freedom 
was  a  very  important  factor  in  his  career.  He  was  a  man  who  must  be 
allowed  to  build  after  his  own  pattern ;  he  must  be  his  own  architect  and 
choose  his  own  tools  and  work  after  his  own  fashion.  He  had  a  great 
deal  of  self-conf]dence  and  this  was  one  secret  of  his  success.  Behind  all 
this  there  existed  the  dominating  element  of  a  deep,  abiding,  all-absorbing 
spiritual  earnestness.  The  gospel  of  Christ  was  ever\'thing  to  him;  he  was 
never  troubled  with  any  theoretical  doubts  and  never  for  a  moment  seemed 
to  question  his  own  intimate  and  close  personal  relation  to  the  Saviour; 
he  lived  in  habitual  communion  with  Him,  and  it  was  the  one  gi'eat  object 
of  his  life  to  bring  souls  to  Christ. 


416  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

In  addition  to  his  unremitting  labors  in  his  parish  he  was  a  regular 
contributor  to  the  columns  of  the  Episcopal  Recorder,  for  so  many 
years  the  organ  of  the  evangelical  party,  and  in  1838,  in  association 
with  the  Rev.  Drs.  John  A.  Clark  and  William  Suddards,  assumed 
the  editorial  control.  The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
was  conferred  upon  him  in  1834  by  the  Jefferson  Medical  College 
of  Philadelphia ;  but  in  1851  Harvard,  his  Alma  Mater,  honored  her 
distinguished  son  in  the  bestowment  of  the  same  degree.  A  severe 
attack  of  inflammatory  rheumatism  in  the  fall  of  1839  laid  him  aside 
from  active  work  from  November  to  ^March,  but  a  journey  on  horse- 
back to  the  White  Sulphur  Springs  of  Virginia  completed  his 
restoration  to  health. 

The  necessity  of  increased  seating  capacity  in  the  Church  of  the 
Epiphany  being  apparent,  the  vestry  decided  to  introduce  side  gal- 
leries. The  rector  took  advantage  of  the  temporary  closing  of  the 
church  to  sail  for  Europe  April  1,  1842,  with  credentials  from  the 
Board  of  ]\Iissions,  the  American  Bible  Society,  the  American  Tract 
Society,  and  the  American  Sunday  School  Union  as  a  delegate  to  the 
May  anniversaries  of  the  kindred  societies  in  London.  A  series  of 
letters  recording  his  impressions  and  comments  were  published  in 
the  Episcopal  Recorder  and  later  in  book  form  under  the  title  Recol- 
lections of  England. 

Meanwhile  the  Tractarian  Movement  had  convulsed  the  Church. 
The  Carey  Ordination  was  an  incident  in  which  the  candidate,  a 
graduate  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  was  ordered  deacon 
by  Bishop  Onderdonk  in  New  York  City  against  the  private  and 
public  protest  of  the  Eev.  Drs.  Smith  and  Anthon  on  the  ground  of 
his  holding  the  Tractarian  ^iews.  The  stand  which  these  men  took 
was  unqualifiedly  supported  and  commended  by  Dr.  Tyng,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  stood  apart  from  those  whose  views  he  shared 
and  with  whom  he  habitually  acted  in  justifying  the  Bishop  on 
technical  grounds  in  proceeding  with  the  ordination.  The  heat  of 
controversy  over  this  matter  was  barely  moderating  when  the  repu- 
tation and  usefulness  of  his  brother,  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  so  sadly  impaired  by  rumors  charging  him  Avith  intemperate 
habits  that  at  his  diocesan  convention  in  ^Iq.j,  18-44,  the  ten  senior 
presbji:ers,  Dr.  Tyng  being  of  the  number,  were  deputed  to  present 
to  the  Bishop  a  solemn  remonstrance  signed  by  sixty-eight  of  the 
clergy.  He  thereupon  sent  his  resignation  of  the  episcopal  office 
to  the  Standing  Committee  and  a  special  convention  was  held 
September  6,  1844,  to  consider  the  proper  course  to  be  pursued. 
Dr.  Tyng  was  the  preacher  at  the  opening  service  and  sought  to 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  417 

allay  the  intense  feeling  and  party  spirit  whieli  existed  by  a  dis- 
course upon  the  text  "  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren."  The  election  of  a 
successor  to  Bishop  Onderdonk  was  closely  contested  at  the  conven- 
tion held  in  April,  1845.  Dr.  Tyng  had  been  nominated  and  came 
very  near  election,  but  after  the  second  ballot  he  withdrew  his  name 
and  on  the  seventh  ballot  Dr.  Alonzo  Potter  was  elected. 

The  call  to  St.  George's  had  meanwhile  been  presented  to  him, 
which  he  accepted  in  IMay,  1845,  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  this 
new  position  on  the  first  of  June. 

Dr.  Tyng's  active  rectorship  of  St.  George's  extended  over  a  period 
of  thirty-three  eventful  years,  and  upon  his  retirement  in  1878  he 
became  its  Rector  Emeritus.  During  this  time,  through  the  lib- 
erality of  his  vestry,  he  was  privileged  to  make  four  trips  to  Europe 
in  the  spring  of  1847,  1853,  1857,  and  1872.  Engrossed  as  he  was 
with  the  cares  and  duties  of  his  parish  work,  he  yet  found  time  to 
champion  with  voice  and  pen  many  a  cause  which  appealed  to  his 
sympathy  and  interest.  To  TJie  Independent  he  contributed  a  series 
of  familiar  letters  on  Sunday-school  work  which  were  subsequently 
published  in  a  little  book  under  the  title  Forty  Years'  Experience 
in  Sunday-schools.  These  were  followed  by  a  series  of  weekly  papers 
on  "  The  Prodigal  Son  "  or  "  The  Lost' One  Found."  Upon  the 
lamented  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Anthon,  rector  of  St.  Mark's 
Church,  New  York,  whom  he  had  assisted  in  editing  The  Protestant 
Churchman,  the  representative  paper  of  the  evangelical  party,  the 
entire  responsibility  of  conducting  that  paper  devolved  on  him — a 
labor  which  he  sustained  without  pecuniary  return  for  several  years. 
In  the  ' '  May  Anniversaries  ' '  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  Ameri- 
can Tract  Society,  American  Sunday-school  Union,  and  other  union 
societies,  so  long  held  in  the  old  Broadway  Tabernacle,  he  was  always 
a  prominent  figure  and  ever  welcome  as  an  eloquent  and  impressive 
speaker.    It  was  truly  said  of  him : 

"While  faithful  and  sueeessful  as  a  pastor  to  an  uncommon  degree,  he 
exerted  an  influence  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  his  parish  and  made  his 
power  felt  in  almost  evexy  department  of  Christian  ]3hilanthi-opy  and 
benevolence.  Of  a  broad,  catholic  spirit,  with  intense  convictions  "of  the 
efficacy  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  for  the  redemption  of  lost  and  suffering 
humanity,  and  with  unsurpassed,  if  it  Tvas  not  miequaled,  power  to  enforce 
his  convictions  upon  all  who  came  withui  the  sound  of  liis  voice  his  ser^-iees 
were  not  restricted  to  the  Church  of  his  love,  but  were  freely  given  to  all 
branches  of  the  household  of  faith.  So  quick  and  responsive  was  his 
sympathy  for  eveiw  well-ordered  effort  to  bring  men  nearer  to  Christ,  and 
so  ardent  and  zealous  and  effective  were  his  appeals  for  those  engaged  in 
these  efforts,  that  he  was  regarded  as  the  staunch  and  eloquent  advocate 
27 


418  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

of  evei-y  deserving  cause  of  benevolence  and  reform,  and  no  orator  upon 
their  jjlatform  was  more  eloquent  than  be. 

He  impressed  bis  peculiar  personality  upon  every  occasion.  Of  com- 
manding presence,  resembling  a  general  at  tbe  bead  of  bis  army  ratber 
tban  tbe  jjastor  of  a  quiet  Hock,  and  witb  a  facility  and  fluency  of  ex- 
temporaneous utterance  that  never  besitated  for  a  word,  and  tbat  tbe  most 
littiug  word,  and  witb  rare  felicity  of  tbougbt  and  illustration,  witb  liery, 
impassioned,  magnetic  eloquence  swaying  an  audience  at  bis  will.  Dr.  Tyng 
will  ever  bold  a  place  in  tbe  memories  of  bis  favored  auditors  as  among 
tbe  most  gifted,  persuasive,  cogent,  and  irresistible  orators  of  our  day. 

The  Eev.  Dr.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  himself  in  the  front  rank  of 
New  York's  pulpit  orators,  wrote  of  him: 

He  was,  in  my  judgment,  tbe  prince  of  platform  speakers.  His  ready 
and  rapid  utterance,  bis  bearty  enthusiasm,  bis  courageous  style  of  speech, 
and  his  fervent  projectile  power  of  reaching  tbe  hearts  of  his  audience 
gave  him  this  undisputed  supremacy. 

One  evening  a  complimentary  recej^tion  was  given  to  John  B.  Gough 
in  Niblo's  Garden  Hall.  A  large  number  of  eminent  speakers  participated. 
After  Henry  Ward  Beecber  and  I  had  hnisbed  our  brief  addresses  we  took 
a  seat  over  by  tbe  wall  and  listened  to  Dr.  Tyng,  who  was  in  one  of  his 
happiest  moods.  While  he  was  speaking  1  whispered  to  Mr.  Beecber,  '  Is 
not  tbat  superb  platf orming ?'  Beecber  replied:  'Yes,  it  is  indeed.  He 
is  tbe  only  man  I  am  afraid  of.  I  never  want  to  speak  after  him,  and  if 
I  speak  first,  then  when  be  gets  up  I  wish  I  bad  not  spoken  at  aU.'  Some 
of  the  rest  of  us  felt  just  as  Mr.  Beecber  did. 

Tbe  printed  reports  of  liis  popular  addresses  do  him  no  adequate  justice. 
He  spoke  too  rapidly  for  tbe  average  rejjorter,  and  no  pen  or  paper  could 
transfer  tbe  electric  voice  or  jjowerful  elocution  of  tbe  orator.  He  was 
always  the  man  to  be  beard  and  not  to  be  read.  His  personal  magnetism 
was  wonderful.  I  coimt  it  to  have  been  a  constant  inspu-ation  to  have 
heard  him  so  often  and  a  blessed  privilege  to  have  enjoyed  his  intimate 
friendship. 

Bishop  Clark's  tribute  to  him  is  equally  appreciative  and  force- 
ful: 

On  tbe  platform  in  certain  resjjects  he  bad  no  superior.  It  never  ap- 
peared to  make  the  slightest  difference  whether  be  bad  been  able  to  prepare 
himself  by  days  of  study  or  was  called  to  speak  without  a  moment's  prepa- 
ration. The  promjjtness  with  which  he  launched  himself  into  a  speech 
and  the  spontaneousness  of  his  utterance  were  verj^  characteristic  of  him. 
From  the  moment  that  be  opened  bis  mouth  tbe  words  seemed  to  come  of 
themselves  clean,  clear-cut,  and  sparkling,  gliding  out  so  rapidly  that  it 
sometimes  appeared  as  if  they  must  outrun  the  thought  tbat  gave  them 
their  impulse.  The  sentences  of  one  of  his  offhand  sj^eeches  would  often 
assume  tbe  same  protracted,  elaborate  form  which  characterizes  Barrow's 
discourses,  and  the  wonder  was  bow  such  eomiDlicated  periods  could  be 
framed  without  any  previous  study.     I  once  ventured  to  ask  him  if  he 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  419 

never  forgot  the  beginning:  of  one  of  these  long  sentences  before  he  came 
to  the  conclusion,  and  he  said  that  this  was  often  the  case  and  then  he  added, 
'  I  just  talk  on  for  a  while  until  everybody  else  has  forgotten ;  after  wliich 
I  can  finish  the  sentence  as  I  please.'  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this 
that  he  ever  failed  to  make  a  most  distmct  and  definite  impression.  Amid 
all  the  rich  j^rofusion  of  words  and  interlacing  of  sentences  the  thought 
stood  out  sharp  and  clear.  He  had  a  marvelous  magnetic  power  over  an 
audience.  There  was  something  behind  the  argument  and  even  behind  the 
earnestness  by  which  the  argiiment  was  expressed  which  gave  him  a  peculiar 
power,  and  if  he  had  been  bred  to  the  bar  there  are  very  few  lawyers  in 
the  land  who  could  have  coped  with  him. 

I  remember  a  gi'eat  public  meeting  where  he  was  assigned  his  place 
as  the  last  speaker  of  the  evening.  Before  his  time  came  the  audience, 
wearied  by  the  lateness  of  the  hour  and  the  efforts  of  listening  to  a  series 
of  dull  addresses,  was  fast  dropping  away,  and  when  the  clock  struck  ten 
I  Avhispered  to  him,  '  It  will  not  be  possible  to  keep  these  people  any  longer, 
and  if  I  were  you  I  would  not  try  to  do  it.'  '  We  will  see  about  that/  he 
replied,  and  just  as  the  last  speaker  closed  the  Doctor  sprang  to  his  feet 
and  with  half  a  dozen  lightning  words  arrested  the  receding  tide  of  men 
and  women  and  held  them  all  spellbound  to  the  end;  for  no  one  seemed 
able  to  move  from  his  place  after  the  electric  fire  of  the  Doctor's  eloquence 
had  touched  his  soul. 

A  man  of  Dr.  Tyng's  uncompromising  convictions  and  bold  utter- 
ances was  naturally  subjected  to  much  criticism  and  abuse.  The 
Churchman,  which  was  then  distinctively  the  organ  of  the  High- 
Church  party  and  other  papers  advocating  the  same  views,  were 
bitter  and  relentless  in  their  attacks  upon  him.  One  editorial,  under 
the  caption  "  An  Erratic  and  Unruly  Presbyter,"  called  forth  an 
answer  from  The  hidependent  which  was  at  once  sarcastic  and  hu- 
morous, closing  with  the  remark :  ' '  We  agree  with  The  Churchman 
that  we  are  bound  to  believe  '  that  Dr.  Tyng's  unaccountable  con- 
duct will  be  so  overruled  by  Divine  Providence  as  in  the  end  to  be 
of  service  to  the  Church.'  We  are  quite  sure  that  *  the  Church  ' 
needs  just  the  service  that  Dr.  Tyng  is  rendering.  Would  that  all 
the  ministers  of  Christ  were  such  prophets  and  that  His  Spirit  were 
upon  them  all. ' ' 

Though  Dr.  Tyng  was  a  typical  low  churchman,  Bishop  Mcllvaine 
once  said  of  him,  "  When  the  Church  is  attacked  he  is  like  a  ther- 
mometer plunged  in  boiling  water  shooting  up  at  once  to  the  highest 
point. ' '  But  he  was  very  apprehensive  for  the  future  of  the  Church 
in  view  of  the  growth  of  sacramentarian  doctrine.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
W.  W.  Newton  when  a  boy  was  visiting  in  St.  George 's  rectory  with 
his  father,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Newton,  of  Philadelphia,  and  he 
narrates,  in  his  charming  recent  book  Yesterdays  with  the  Fathers,, 
that  Dr.  Tyng,  "  walking  vigorously  up  and  down  the  room  and 


420  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH  ; 

snapping  his  fingers  at  rhythmic  intervals,  exclaimed:  '  Oh,  Rich- 
ard! Richard!  What  is  to  become  of  the  Church  when  we  are 
gone!'  " 

The  Churchmanship,  however,  of  both  these  distinguished  pres- 
byters was  proof  against  all  efforts  to  enlist  their  influence  and  co- 
operation in  favor  of  the  "  Cummins  Schism  "  which  gave  birth  to 
the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church. 

Dr.  Tyng  always  felt  full  confidence  in  his  own  methods  of  pre- 
senting truth.  It  is  related  of  him  that  whenever  he  allowed  a 
stranger  to  occupy  his  pulpit,  which  was  very  seldom,  his  own 
sermon  on  the  following  Sunday  was  sure  to  be  unusually  pro- 
nounced. When  asked  a  reason  for  this  he  replied,  "  I  always  find 
it  expedient  and  wise  to  resort  to  a  spiritual  alterative  after  a 
stranger  has  occupied  my  pulpit. ' ' 

A  mild-mannered  parishioner  once  took  the  liberty  of  saying  to 
him  that  "  his  people  would  be  much  gratified  if  he  would  restrain 
his  temper  a  little  "  to  be  met  with  the  ready  reply,  "  My  dear  sir, 
1  have  restrained  more  temper  in  half  an  hour  than  you  ever  did 
in  your  whole  life."  Some  one  kindly  observing  that  he  could  ac- 
count for  these  occasional  ebullitions  of  feeling  because  he  knew 
how  much  quicksilver  there  was  in  the  doctor's  veins  for  which  his 
ancestors  were  responsible,  he  promptly  replied : ' '  Don't  call  it  quick- 
silver, call  it  sin;  that  is  what  it  is.  But  no  one  knows  how  I  struggle 
and  pray  and  fight  to  keep  my  temper  in  subjection." 

Once  in  St.  George's  while  Dr.  Tyng  was  preaching,  a  restless 
listener  near  the  pulpit  was  constantly  consulting  his  watch.  The 
doctor  who  was  not  famed  for  patience  paused  for  a  moment  and 
exclaimed,  "  When  the  gentleman  sitting  in  front  of  me  stops  fidget- 
ing with  his  watch  I  will  continue  my  sermon. ' ' 

The  Rev.  Dr.  E.  0.  Flagg  once  met  a  friend  who  attended  a  church 
whose  minister  prophesied  smooth  things  "  speaking  peaceably 
unto  Jerusalem."  He  asked  him  if  he  still  belonged  to  the  same 
parish  and  received  for  answer :  ' '  No,  I  became  tired  of  monotonous, 
irrelevant  platitudes  and  I  now  go  where  the  Gospel  trumpet  blows 
with  no  uncertain  sound,  where  I  am  not  flattered  into  the  idea  that 
I  am  a  saint  when  I  know  that  for  the  most  part  I  am  a  sinner.  My 
clergyman  is  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  II.  Tyng. ' ' 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Cuyler,  in  his  eighty-eighth  year,  had  kindly  con- 
sented to  dictate  for  this  history  some  reminiscences  of  Dr.  Tyng 
for  whom  he  cherished  a  warm  admiration  and  with  whom  he  was 
intimate  for  many  years,  but  only  eight  days  before  his  death  penned 
with  his  own  hand  the  following  regret : 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  421 

Brooklyn^  February  18,  1909. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  am  suffering-  from  such  a  scA-ere  breakdown  in  health  to-day  that  it 
will  be  impossible  for  me  to  dictate  my  reminiscences  of  my  eloquent  and 
beloved  friend.  Dr.  Tyng. 
Regi-etting  this  most  deeply, 

Yours  in  haste,  sincerely, 

Theodork  L.  Cutler. 

Dr.  Tyng  was  a  speaker  rather  than  a  writer,  but  the  columns 
of  the  Episcopal  Recorder  of  Philadelphia,  the  Protestant  Church- 
man of  New  York,  The  Independent,  and  other  papers  bear  witness 
to  the  virility  and  effectiveness  of  his  printed  speech.  The  following 
works  from  his  pen  were  published  in  book  form:  Lectures  on  the 
Law  and  the  Gospel,  Guide  to  Confirmation,  The  Israel  of  God, 
Recollections  of  England,  Christ  is  All,  Christian  Titles,  Fellowship 
ivith  Christ,  The  Rich  Kinsman,  The  Captive  Orphan,  Forty  Years' 
Experience  in  Sunday-schools,  The  Spencers,  The  Feast  Enjoyed. 

Dr.  Tyng's  resignation  of  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's  took  effect 
May  1,  1878,  and  his  remaining  years  were  quietly  spent  in  the 
retirement  of  his  Irvington  home  until  on  the  3d  of  September,  1885, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-five  years  seven  months  and  three  days 
"  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus  "  and  "  was  not,  for  God  took  him." 

Among  the  tributes  to  his  memory,  in  addition  to  those  already 
given  in  the  history,  was  that  of  the  Evangelical  Knowledge  Society 
to  the  administration  of  whose  affairs  he  had  largely  contributed  by 
his  executive  skill  and  energy.    It  closes  with  these  words : 

To  the  cause  of  Evangelical  truth,  Dr.  Tyng  committed  himself  at  the 
commencement  of  his  religious  life  and  continued  the  firm  and  mifaltering 
supporter  of  the  same  to  the  end.  He  lived  to  see  its  principles  ^ondicated 
and  the  liberty  for  which  it  contended  fully  established.  Of  the  charac- 
teristics of  this  remarkable  man  and  of  his  most  successful  ministry  we 
need  not  here  speak,  but  we  deem  it  both  a  duty  and  a  privilege  to  place 
on  record  our  appreciation  of  the  signal  and  long-continued  sendees  he 
rendered  to  the  society  as  well  as  to  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness 
in  the  world. 

The  Evangelical  Education  Society  placed  this  upon  its  records : 

His  ministerial  labors  were  prosecuted  with  untiring  energy  for  more 
than  half  a  century.  In  the  simplicity  of  his  views  of  gospel  tiiith,  and 
in  the  faithfulness  and  poAver  Avith  which  he  presented  the  same,  he  was 
a  model  minister  eminently  worthy  of  the  imitation  of  all  who  enter  that 
office.  He  seemed  to  come  fully  up  to  the  sketch  which  St.  Paul  gave 
of  himself  when  he  said,  '  Neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself  so  that 
I  might  finish  my  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry  which  I  have  received 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  testify  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.' 


422  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Science  and  philosophy  and  the  modern  developments  of  different 
branches  of  human  learning  were  kej^t  i:)ace  with  by  him  and  were  made 
use  of  to  illustrate  the  great  truths  of  revelation,  but  were  never  allowed 
to  take  the  place  of  those  truths.  His  determination,  like  that  of  the 
great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  was  '  to  know  nothing  else  among  men  save 
Jesus  Christ  and  Him  cnicified.'  And  here  he  stands  out  as  an  example 
to  all  oiu*  younger  brethren  in  the  ministry.  From  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  his  long  ministry  '  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus '  was  all  that  he  had 
to  tell  about  in  his  public  ministrations.  He  was  an  example  of  undaunted 
courage,  of  untiring  energ\',  and  of  unfailing  faithfulness  in  the  discharge 
of  all  the  duties  of  his  high  office. 

We  may  well  thank  God  for  the  life  and  labors  of  such  a  man,  and 
pray  that  all  who  enter  on  the  work  of  the  ministry  may  have  gi-ace  to 
*  follow  him  as  he  followed  Christ.' 


THE     REV.   WALTER    W.   WILLIAMS,    D.D. 

Walter  Wheeler  Williams  was  born  in  Norfolk,  Virginia,  May 
4,  1834.  His  parents  were  John  Williams  and  Martha  Yucher 
Newton  Armistead. 

His  early  education  began  at  the  Norfolk  Academy,  from  which 
he  went  to  the  Virginia  Military  Academy,  where  he  took  the  regu- 
lar course  from  1850  to  1855,  graduating  at  the  head  of  a  large 
class.  He  then  spent  three  years  in  study  at  the  University  of 
Virginia,  and  was  an  instructor  there  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War.  He  served  throughout  the  war  as  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate 
army,  and  subsequently  studied  for  the  Ministry  in  the  Virginia 
Theological  Seminary  in  Alexandria,  Virginia. 

He  was  ordered  deacon,  July  2,  1858,  by  Bishop  Meade.  From 
1860  to  1866  he  was  rector  of  the  church  in  Leesburg,  Virginia,  and 
from  1866  to  1876  held  the  rectorship  of  Christ  Church,  George- 
town, D.  C. 

He  was  called  to  be  associate  rector  of  St.  George's  in  April,  1876, 
and  accepted  the  position  to  take  effect  May  29th,  to  assume  its  active 
duties  on  October  1st.  Upon  Dr.  Tyng's  resignation  he  was  elected 
rector  to  assume  the  duties  May  1,  1878.  He  resigned  in  April, 
1881,  to  accept  the  rectorship  of  Christ  Church,  Baltimore,  Md., 
which  position  he  relinquished  through  failing  health  in  1891. 

There  were  three  permanent  results  of  his  rectorship  in  Christ 
Church  worthy  of  special  mention.  First,  the  erection  and  paying 
for  during  his  rectorship  of  a  handsome  rectory;  second,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  free  kindergarten  at  Fells  Point  Mission,  which  has 
been  in  successful  operation  for  nearly  twenty-five  years ;  and  third. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  423 

the  organization  of  an  envelope  fund  on  the  basis  of  a  weekly  pledge 
for  the  support  of  the  church. 

Dr.  Williams  had  a  singularly  well-poised  mind.  As  a  counselor 
and  adviser  he  was  always  safe,  quiet,  and  unobstrusive.  Bishop 
Eandolph,  who  was  with  him  in  the  seminary,  testified  strongly  of 
his  consecration  to  his  work  and  undeviating  steadiness  of  purpose. 
In  all  his  fields  of  labor  he  left  among  those  to  whom  he  ministered 
the  same  impression  of  earnest  Christian  faith  and  life. 

The  last  few  years  of  his  life  were  passed  under  peculiar  trials, 
which  those  nearest  to  him  knew  best  how  to  appreciate,  and  in  and 
through  which  his  manly  Christian  character  showed  in  a  way  not 
soon  to  be  forgotten  or  its  effect  lost.  ''  No  one  who  watched  his 
life,  as  it  ripened  through  those  last  solemn  months,  can  ever  forget 
or  lose  the  lesson  of  humility,  patience,  faith,  hope,  and  holiest  love 
which  it  so  clearly  taught."  Bishop  Paret  said  of  him:  "  He 
possessed  deep  devotedness  and  strong  positiveness.  High  scholarly 
attainments  and  great  modesty  were  closely  blended  in  his  life — a 
life  which  for  many  years  was  burdened  by  sorrows  which  im- 
printed on  his  character  a  wonderful  sweetness." 

Soon  after  his  resignation  of  the  rectorship  of  Christ  Church, 
Baltimore,  he  died  at  Sudbrook  Park,  Md.,  June  29,  1892. 


THE     REV.   WILLIAM    S.    EAINSFORD,    D.D. 

William  Stephen  Rainsford  was  born  in  Dublin  October  30, 
1850.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  Marcus  Rainsford,  at  that 
time  chaplain  of  the  Hospital  for  the  Blind  in  Dublin,  and  Louisa 
Anne  Dixon,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  Dixon,  incumbent  of 
Dungarvan  in  the  south  of  Ireland.  On  his  removal  from  Dublin 
his  father  became  Vicar  of  Dundalk  in  northeast  Ireland  and  chap- 
lain to  the  Earl  of  Roden,  a  sturdy  and  staunch  Protestant  Christian, 
and  here  in  the  old  red  brick  vicarage  were  born  his  other  seven  chil- 
dren. With  an  income  not  exceeding  $1,500  a  year  it  was  no  easy 
matter  to  provide  food,  clothing,  and  education  for  so  large  a  family, 
but  the  mother  of  the  household  was  exceptionally  capable  and 
"  worked  miracles."  The  early  life  of  Mr.  Rainsford  was  therefore 
spent  in  Dundalk,  which  was  beautifully  situated  and  in  which  his 
strong  love  of  nature  was  developed.  Whenever  he  could  get  a 
holiday  he  was  off  to  the  mountains.  His  fishing-rod  was  his  delight, 
and  at  thirteen  years  of  age  his  father  gave  him  a  fowling  piece 
with  which  he  hunted  rabbits  and  other  small  game.    His  school  life 


424  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

was  hard  and  unhappy.  The  masters  were  harsh  and  his  school- 
fellows inclined  to  bully  him,  for  he  was  thin  and  tall  and  shy.  But 
his  home  training  in  the  Bible  he  never  forgot  and  it  proved  of  in- 
calculable value  in  his  after  life.  His  father  had  become  a  noted 
preacher.  He  was  not  learned,  but  he  knew  his  Bible  and  was  elo- 
quent and  was  one  of  the  first  exponents  of  the  evangelical  movement 
which  swept  over  Ireland  in  the  great  revival  of  1859.  When  William 
was  fifteen  his  father  sent  him  to  a  boarding-school  in  Shropshire, 
England,  which  had  a  great  religious  reputation,  but  where  the  boy 
learned  nothing  and  found  "  the  whole  atmosphere  unreal,  un- 
scholarly,  and  stultifying  to  the  last  degree.  It  was  the  unhappiest 
time  of  my  life.  I  look  back  to  it  with  the  keenest  possible  dissatis- 
faction; it  was  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  death."  When  his 
father  was  called,  in  1866,  to  take  charge  of  St.  John's  Church, 
Belgrave  Square,  London,  he  left  this  ' '  abominable  school  ' '  and  re- 
joined his  family.  He  soon  became  interested  in  his  school  work  at 
Kensington,  but  in  the  following  year  got  wet  through  in  attending 
an  Oxford-Cambridge  race  which  resulted  in  serious  lung  trouble. 
The  doctors  insisted  on  a  change  of  air  and  on  the  beautiful  estate 
of  his  father's  friend,  Lord  Farnham  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  he  got 
back  to  the  free  life  of  the  country  which  he  loved,  fishing,  hunting, 
climbing.  But  the  trouble  was  deep-seated,  and  on  his  return  the 
doctor  told  his  father  that  the  boy  had  not  six  months  to  live  and 
that  his  only  chance  was  to  go  to  southern  France.  Kind  friends 
provided  means  and  off  he  went,  and  he  got  well  and  strong  and  in 
six  months  came  back  to  face  the  serious  question  of  what  his  life 
work  was  to  be.  His  hopes  and  inclinations  tended  toward  the  army 
in  which  on  both  his  father's  and  mother's  side  his  forbears  had 
been  officers.  He  set  to  work  with  earnestness  and  with  a  tutor  to 
remedy  the  incompleteness  of  his  desultory  education. 

The  East  Side  London  problem  was  in  1867  attracting  much  at- 
tention and  through  some  of  his  titled  friends  young  Rainsford  came 
to  be  much  interested  in  it.  The  movement  was  at  first  in  character 
purely  religious,  the  social  side  was  as  yet  undeveloped.  With  the 
intent,  however,  of  relieving  a  little  the  pressure  of  distress  arising 
from  the  appalling  poverty  the  East  Side  Committee  decided  to 
colonize  800  emigrants  in  Canada,  and  Herbert  Watney,  the  son  of 
a  rich  brewer,  who  was  working  in  the  East  London  field  with  much 
enthusiasm,  was  deputed  with  Mr.  Eainsford,  whose  sister  he  had 
married,  to  select  the  families  and  conduct  them  to  their  new  Cana- 
dian home. 

This  settlement  work  having  been  successfully  accomplished,  Mr. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  425 

Eainsford  proposed  to  his  brother-in-law  that  they  should  go  West 
and  shoot  buffalo  and  see  the  country  on  both  sides  of  the  line.  They 
journeyed  extensively  on  horseback  across  the  Rockies,  encountered 
many  dangers,  experienced  thrilling  adventures,  and  reached  Van- 
couver's Island  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

On  his  return  to  England,  in  1S69,  he  settled  down  to  student 
work.  One  day  his  father  asked  him :  ' '  Will,  have  you  made  up 
your  mind  what  you  want  to  be?  The  desire  of  my  heart  is  that 
you  should  be  a  clergyman."  He  answered,  "  Daddy,  if  you  will 
send  me  to  Cambridge  I  will  be  a  clergyman. ' '  And  so  his  life  plan 
was  determined.  His  years  at  Cambridge  were,  however,  not  over- 
well  improved.  He  was  an  inconspicuous  figure  there.  His  witness 
of  himself  is :  "  I  was  not  enough  of  a  scholar.  When  I  left  Cam- 
bridge I  knew  almost  nothing  of  theology ;  I  simply  knew  the  bible 
as  my  mother  had  taught  it  to  me." 

He  graduated  from  St.  John's  College  in  1872  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts. 

During  his  residence  in  Cambridge  he  had  kept  in  touch  with  the 
East  London  work  and  had  acquired  some  reputation  as  an  evan- 
gelistic speaker.  After  his  ordination  a  curacy  was  offered  him  in 
Norwich,  a  city  in  the  center  of  the  shoe  trade  which  was  at  that 
time  in  a  depressed  condition  and  the  state  of  religion  was  corre- 
spondingly low.  There  were  forty-eight  churches  in  the  city,  but 
the  masses  were  neglected.  How  to  reach  the  poor  and  discontented 
population  was  the  question  which  the  young  curate  propounded  to 
himself.  On  Saturdays  when  people  gathered  in  the  market  square 
he  stood  there  ringing  a  great  bell  and  when  he  got  a  crowd  around 
him  preached.  He  sought  co-operation  from  young  men  in  this 
street  preaching,  assigning  districts  to  them,  and  they  all  preached 
in  the  old  style  of  evangelical  address,  urging  upon  their  hearers 
personal  conviction  of  sin,  conscious  conversion  to  God  which  they 
caUed  the  new  birth,  the  love  of  Jesus,  and  salvation  as  deliverance 
from  hell-fire.  Religious  interest  was  excited,  and  after  Henry 
Varley,  a  well-known  evangelist,  had  preached  for  ten  days  in  St. 
Andrew's  Hall,  holding  two  thousand  people,  he  said  to  the  young 
curate,  ' '  Rainsf ord,  you  must  continue  '  these  meetings  Sunday 
night."  "  I  can't  think  of  it,"  he  answered.  But  the  evangelist 
insisted.  "  You've  got  to  do  it.  These  people  are  hungry  and  must 
be  fed."  "  So  help  me,  God,  I'll  try,"  he  said.  So  for  two  years 
he  preached  to  congregations  of  between  one  and  two  thousand  peo- 
ple every  Sunday  night.  But  this  was  a  small  portion  of  his  Sunday 
duty.    The  routine  of  the  parish  was  early  communion  at  8 ;  Sunday- 


42G  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

school  at  9.30;  service  at  11,  when  the  curate  often  preached,  as  the 
rector  was  not  strong;  service  at  4  p.m.,  with  sermon  by  the  curate, 
and  another  service  in  the  evening,  after  which  he  went  to  St. 
Andrew's  Hall  to  speak  again.  It  was  a  strenuous  life,  but  there 
were  gratifying  spiritual  results  of  which  the  city  long  experienced 
the  blessing. 

Meanwhile  toward  the  end  of  his  second  year  in  Norwich  he  be- 
came deeply  troubled  over  infant  baptism ;  and  at  last  finding  him- 
self unable  to  reconcile  the  language  of  the  baptismal  office  with  the 
doctrine  he  was  preaching,  that  by  conversion  only  men  become  sons 
of  God — thus  failing  to  discriminate  between  such  conversion  and 
the  new  birth  in  baptism — he  went  to  his  bishop  proposing  to  resign 
his  Letter  of  Orders.  But  that  good  man  gave  wise  and  wholesome 
counsel  insisting  upon  a  two  years'  delay.  Young  Rainsford  ac- 
quiesced and  while  still  in  a  state  of  mental  perturbation  an  invita- 
tion came  to  him,  quite  providentially,  to  take  charge  for  the  summer 
of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  New  York,  whose  rector,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  S.  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  was  in  great  need  of  rest.  He  gladly  welcomed 
this  opportunity  for  an  absolute  change  of  environment,  though  his 
heart  was  sick  and  sad  at  leaving  all  his  loving  friends  behind  to 
go  alone  into  a  foreign  land. 

He  reached  New  York  June  10,  1876,  and  learned  he  was  expected 
to  preach  twice  each  Sunday  in  the  church  and  every  night  in  the 
Gospel  Tent  at  Thirty-fourth  Street  and  Broadway.  His  protesta- 
tion of  inability  to  meet  such  large  requirements  were  overruled 
by  Dr.  Tyng  and  for  three  months,  depressed  and  lonely  as  he  felt 
in  the  extreme  of  summer  heat,  he  did  the  work  required.  Then  he 
broke  down.  But  convalescing  from  the  illness  he  went  off  with  a 
guide  for  a  ten  days'  sojourn  in  the  woods  of  Maine  and  came  back 
feeling  vigorous  again.  Mr.  Rainsford 's  success  in  the  tent  work 
suggested  the  holding  of  parochial  missions  as  his  best  line  of  labor. 
Bishop  Horatio  Potter  gave  him  a  cordial  and  appreciative  letter 
which  opened  many  doors  of  opportunity  to  him.  His  first  parochial 
mission  was  held  in  Baltimore.  He  afterward  conducted  them  in 
Philadelphia,  "Washington.  Richmond,  New  Orleans,  Louisville,  San- 
dusky, and  some  other  places.  After  two  years  thus  spent  an  urgent 
call  to  London,  Canada,  resulted  in  his  holding  there  one  of  the  most 
successful  missions  in  his  whole  experience.  A  tremendous  wave 
of  religious  excitement  was  sweeping  over  Canada  and  one  which 
left  large  and  permanent  results.  From  London  ]\Ir.  Rainsford  was 
summoned  to  Toronto  to  conduct  a  mission  in  St.  James'  Cathedral, 
and  from  the  outset  there  was  evidence  of  the  Divine  Spirit's  work- 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  427 

ing  powerfully  on  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men.  Crowds 
thronged  the  church,  many  could  not  get  in.  Hundreds  remained 
for  counsel  on  the  all-absorbing  theme  of  personal  religion.  At  the 
close  of  the  mission,  which  had  been  prolonged  to  three  weeks  and 
the  missioner  felt  preached  out  and  exhausted,  there  was  an  insistent 
demand  that  he  remain  to  preach  twice  on  each  Sunday  and  once 
during  the  week.  The  rector  gladly  availed  himself  of  the  situation 
to  achieve  a  much-desired  visit  to  England  and  left  Mr.  Rainsford 
in  charge.  At  the  end  of  four  months  he  was  completely  used  up 
and  on  the  rector's  return  sailed  for  home  for  a  protracted  rest. 
During  the  six  months  which  then  transpired,  and  while  still  pon- 
dering about  his  future,  he  was  united  in  marriage  in  1878  with 
Miss  Emily  Alma,  daughter  of  Frederick  Green,  Esq.,  of  Princess 
Gardens,  London. 

When  the  appeal  came  to  him  from  Toronto  to  return  and  take 
the  assistant  rectorship  with  the  assurance  of  succession  to  the  rector- 
ship, the  rector  being  old  and  feeble,  his  wife  assented  and  they  went. 
Enthusiastic  crowds  awaited  him,  but  he  was  soon  to  learn  the  dif- 
ference between  preaching  as  a  successful  missioner  on  a  few  leading 
themes  and  that  expected  of  a  parish  minister  based  on  a  broader 
range  of  truth  and  life.    The  torturing  feeling  came  upon  him  that 
he  had  preached  all  that  he  knew.    He  studied,  but  his  reading  did 
not  fit  in  with  his  past  methods  of  thought  and  expression.    He  was 
in  intellectual  trouble.    He  had  been  preaching  that  belief  in  Christ 
would  make  men  children  of  God,  but  now  it  seemed  to  him  that 
if  God  were  not  their  Father  believing  it  could  not  make  that  the 
fact,  and  if  men  are  indeed  children  of  God  the  fact  would  not  be 
altered  whether  they  believe  it  or  not.     His  mental  struggles  with 
such  difficulties  robbed  his  preaching  of  its  power.     His  congrega- 
tions fell  away,  but  light  at  last  came  to  him  from  the  Story  of  the 
Prodigal  on  which  he  had  so  often  preached.     As  a  new  revelation 
the  truth  was  clear  to  him  that  the  sinning  son  came  back  from  the 
far  country  because  he  urns  a  son,  he  had  come  to  himself,  his  true, 
real,  better  self.     And  so  he  preached  the  old  familiar  story  from 
the  new  standpoint  of  discovered  truth.    He  studied  Robertson  and 
drank  in  his  teaching  as  only  a  man  parched  with  thirst  can  drink. 
Old  truths  took  on  new  forms,  new  life.     He  began  to  feel  he  had 
something  to  say  once  more.    People  came  back  to  church.    The  light 
had  come  to  him  and  his  old  confidence  in  preaching  what  he  thor- 
oughl}^  believed  returned. 

To  thoroughly  regain  his  poise  he  went  off  for  a  glorious  holiday 
of  nine  weeks  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.    While  he  was  gone  the  call 


428  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

came  from  St.  George's  Church,  but  when  he  learned  of  it  on  his 
ipturn  he  said:  "  I  cannot  take  it.  I  cannot  go  anywhere.  I  must 
not  leave  here."  But  it  was  ordered  otherwise.  The  rector  who 
was  also  dean  died  suddenly.  Succession  to  the  rectorship  had  been 
pledged  to  him  when  be  came  to  be  associate  rector.  Promptly  and 
gladly  was  the  pledge  redeemed;  he  was  elected  rector.  But  the 
new  Bishop  of  Toronto,  standing  upon  the  letter  of  the  canon,  re- 
fused his  confirmation  of  the  election  because  it  had  been  had  with- 
out his  previous  approval.  The  protestations  of  the  congregation 
availed  nothing;  the  bishop  would  not  budge  from  his  position.  In 
this  trying  posture  of  affairs  the  second  invitation  to  St.  George's 
came,  and  much  as  Mr.  Rainsford  wished  to  stay  and  do  the  work 
for  which  plans  had  been  forming  in  his  mind  he  recognized  the 
providential  leading  of  events  and  became  in  January,  1883,  the 
rector  of  St.  George 's  Church. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  bestowed  upon 
Mr.  Rainsford  in  1886  by  Trinity  College,  Hartford. 

His  resignation  of  St.  George's  Church  in  1905  was  sent  from 
Cairo,  Egypt. 

Upon  his  return  from  Africa  he  spent  considerable  time  in  trav- 
eling in  Europe. 

In  the  spring  of  1908  he  made  a  second  trip  to  Africa,  hunting 
big  game  in  British  East  Africa  and  Uganda,  returning  to  Paris  in 
January,  1909.  He  traveled  with  his  own  caravan  and  killed  lions, 
elephants,  and  hippopotami.    On  his  return  he  said : 

I  am  very  well.  For  one  who  seeks  rest  there  is  nothing  like  life  in  the 
open  air  in  a  distant  country.  I  thorouglily  enjoyed  the  seeneiy,  probably 
the  most  beautiful  in  Africa,  and  was  gi'eatly  interested  in  the  life  and 
sport  of  the  country  and  in  several  almost  unknown  tribes  I  encountered. 
I  am  not  a  scientist,  but  I  have  brought  back  copious  notes  of  what  I  saw 
of  African  flora  and  fauna. 

In  1909  he  published  The  Land  and  the  Lion,  giving  a  graphic 
and  thrilling  account  of  his  adventures.  His  other  literary  works 
were  Sermons  Preached  in  St.  George's,  1887;  Good  Friday  Medita- 
tions, 1901 ;  Reasonableness  of  Faith,  1902.  During  the  winter  of 
1910  and  1911  he  delivered  the  "  Baldwin  Lectures  "  in  Ann 
Arbor  before  the  University  of  Michigan.  His  home  is  now  in 
Ridgefield,  Connecticut. 

A  few  brief  published  references  to  Dr.  Rainsford  and  his  work 
may  fitly  close  this  sketch. 

The  New  York  World  said  of  him : 

A  giant  among  men,  he  made  St,  George's  a  giant  among  churches. 
Under  Dr.  Rainsford's  administration,   St.   George's  has  come  to   hold  a 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  429 

leading  place  among  exponents  of  the  institutional  church  idea — an  idea 
purely  of  American  evolution. 

The  Richmond  Times-Despatch : 

It  will  come  as  a  distress  to  his  friends  everywhere  to  know  that  Dr. 
Rainsford  has  so  overworked  himself  that  he  felt  called  upon  to  resign  his 
charge.  His  example  while  at  the  head  of  St.  George's  has  been  in  the 
highest  degree  encouraging  and  inspiring,  23erhaps,  more  than  that  of  any 
other  pastor  in  New  York.  Dr.  Rainsford  has  made  his  church  a  vital 
force  in  the  life  of  the  community  which  it  serves  and  in  so  doing  he  set 
a  new  standard  on  the  value  of  the  church  as  a  social  force. 

The  Brooklyn  Eagle  : 

That  the  ideal  of  the  working  rather  than  the  preaching  pastor  is  more 
common  to-day  is  due  as  much  to  the  example  of  this  consecrated  man 
as  to  any  other  one  force.  Dr.  Rainsford  has  turned  St.  George's,  a  church 
with  wealthy  vestrymen  and  supporters,  into  a  parish  home  for  working 
families.  He  has  preached  the  gospel  to  the  poor.  If  the  rich  also  heard 
him  it  was  because  they  went  where  the  poor  were  for  the  privilege.  If 
all  the  churches  of  this  city  for  the  past  fifty  years  had  been  conducted 
as  St.  George's  has  been  conducted  we  should  have  heard  very  little  of 
class  distinctions  in  church  and  the  problem  of  the  '  unchurched  masses ' 
would  never  have  arisen. 

Jacob  Riis  in  an  article,  ' '  Religion  by  Human  Touch  ' ' : 
Dr.  Rainsford  is  big  of  stature  as  of  heart  and  mind.  He  stands  con- 
siderably above  six  feet  in  his  stockings.  He  loves  a  joke  and  used  to 
tell  with  keen  relish  of  the  procession  of  ragamuffins  he  found  trailing 
him  on  First  Avenue  when  he  first  came  here  chanting  to  an  accompani- 
ment of  tin  pans  and  impi'ovised  cymbals,  '  Won't  he  be  a  comfort  to  his 
mother  when  he  grows  up.' 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  D.  McConneU  in  a  letter : 

I  wish  I  could  contribute  some  special  '  incident '  or  recollection  of 
Rainsford,  but  I  have  nothing  but  the  memory  of  a  long  friendship  with 
one  of  the  biggest,  bravest,  godliest,  and  most  '  contagious '  men  who  ever 
lived. 

THE     REV.    HUGH    BIRCKHBAD,    D.D. 

Hugh  Birckhead  was  born  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  Septem- 
ber 7,  1876,  his  parents  being  William  Hunter  Birckhead,  M.D., 
and  Sarah  Gibbs  King.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at  St. 
Paul's  School,  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  spent  the 
years  from  1891  to  1895.  He  graduated  at  Columbia  College  in 
1889  with  the  degree  of  B.A.  His  theological  education  was  secured 
at  the  Episcopal  Theological  School  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
graduating  in  1902.     He  was  ordered  deacon  June  10,   1902,  in 


430  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Trinity  Church,  Newport,  Ehode  Island,  by  Bishop  W.  N.  McVickar 
and  ordained  priest  June  7,  1903,  in  the  Cathedral  Crypt,  New  York 
City,  by  Bishop  H.  C.  Potter.  He  became  curate  in  St.  George's 
Church  in  1902,  was  made  minister-in-charge  in  1905  during  the 
absence  of  Dr.  Rainsford,  and  was  elected  rector  in  February,  1906. 
He  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Caroline  Minturn  Hall  June 
9,  1909,  the  Bishop  of  New  York  performing  the  ceremony  in  St. 
George's  Church.  A  son,  Christopher  Birckhead,  was  born  to  them 
in  June,  1910. 

He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  M.A.  from  his  Alma  Mater 
in  1906  and  that  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Trinity  College,  Hart- 
ford, in  1910. 

During  his  rectorship,  in  addition  to  his  onerous  parochial  duties, 
he  has  kept  in  touch  with  other  churches,  institutions,  and  social 
workers  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  The  Gramercy  Neighborhood 
Association  which  is  proving  a  force  for  the  betterment  of  local  social 
conditions. 

Dr.  Birckhead  is  devoting  himself  with  the  utmost  earnestness 
to  carrying  on  the  plans  and  work  of  his  predecessor,  and  the  spirit 
with  which  he  is  doing  it  is  shown  by  the  following  words  with  which 
he  closed  his  first  sermon  as  rector  of  St.  George 's : 

It  has  been  our  greatest  privilege  iu  this  Chvu-eli  to  know  one  who  was 
a  gTeat  personality,  and  we  have  come  to  him  gladly  and  often  and  we 
have  been  warmed  and  fed.  We  have  been  inspired  and  directed  until  the 
habit  of  this  presence  in  our  lives  has  become  part  of  life  itself  until  this 
turning  to  a  certain  face  for  inspiration  and  guidance  has  become  an 
unconscious  act,  until  back  into  our  minds  and  hearts  there  has  grown  up 
a  feeling  of  reliance  far  greater  than  we  knew.  We  have  learaed  to  form 
our  idea  of  God;  we  have  been  helped  to  understand  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ;  we  have  been  given  a  great  vision  of  the  possibility  of  our  own 
Lives;  and  our  first  thought  this  morning  is  one  of  thankfulness  to  God 
that  one  man  could  mean  so  much  to  thousands. 

In  the  Providence  of  God  that  gi'eat  personality  has  been  withdrawn, 
and  for  the  moment  we  stand  at  the  dividing  of  the  ways  uncertain  and 
irresolute.  Shall  we  go  back  to  the  old  Uves  which  we  lived  so  carelessly 
and  easily  and  comfortably  before  we  knew  him?  Shall  we  go  back  as  so 
many  others  are  doing  without  comment  or  reproach  and  sink  into  selfish 
retirement?  If  that  is  to  be  so,  then  the  labor  of  our  great  leader  has 
indeed  been  in  vain  and  we  are  like  the  man  of  whom  the  apostle  tells 
us  who  looked  once  into  the  glass  of  life  and  saw  what  he  might  be  and 
then  went  away  and  straightway  forgot  what  manner  of  man  he  was. 

Dear  friends,  in  this  old  church  this  morning  you  cannot  go  back.  You 
realize  too  well  the  meaning  of  your  lives,  the  meaning  of  God,  the  meaning 
of  this  place  in  this  community,  beeaiise  you  know  you  must  go  on,  be- 
cause you  have  once  had  the  vision  you  can  never  forget.  The  work  of 
this  Church  is  infinitely  more  than  the  work  of  one  personabty.    The  work 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  431 

of  this  Church  has  become  of  vital  importance  to  this  land  of  ours.  The 
task  that  lies  before  us  is  so  clear  that  we  cannot  avoid  it.  And  if  we 
could  look  down  upon  this  congTegation  with  the  eye  of  God  we  would 
be  thankful  for  the  clearness  with  which  we  see  what  we  must  do.  There 
is  no  one  man  who  can  carry  on  this  work.  It  is  the  duty  and  the  privilege 
of  all  of  us,  of  all  those  who  have  come  here  year  after  year,  Sunday  after 
Sunday,  and  into  whose  hearts  has  sunk  the  message  of  this  pulpit.  It 
wiU  be  your  greatest  jirivilege  and  your  most  sacred  task  to  carry  on  tliis 
work  for  its  own  sake  and  for  the  sake  of  the  man  who  created  it,  with 
the  help  of  God. 

There  are  times  when  it  is  mere  weakness  to  avoid  the  personal  and 
when  the  strongest  word  that  can  be  spoken  is  the  word  '  I.'  And  I  should 
be  shirking  a  great  opportunity  if  I  did  not  tell  you  plainly  this  morning 
what  I  consider  to  be  my  place  in  this  task  of  continuing  the  work  of 
St.  George's.  It  has  been  very  hard  for  me  to  see  plainly  the  duty,  and 
yet  in  contemplating  my  call  to  tliis  parish  I  have  been  gniided  by  three 
considerations.  In  the  first  place,  you  know  most  of  you  how  fully  I  share 
with  you  your  love  and  your  admiration  for  Dr.  Rainsford.  Many  of 
you  have  known  him  longer  than  I  have,  but  few  of  you  have  known 
him  so  well.  That  man  has  stood  in  the  place  of  my  own  father  to  me 
for  the  last  eight  years.  That  has  been  my  first  consideration.  Secondly, 
I  feel  with  you  very  keenly  that  if  this  work  is  to  continue  as  it  has  been 
carried  on  in  the  past  it  must  continue  along  the  lines  which  Dr.  Rainsford 
has  laid  down,  and  it  will  be  my  chief  duty  to  perpetuate  his  ideas,  his 
methods,  and  his  spirit  in  this  work.  Lastly,  I  recognize  your  call — for 
I  feel  from  the  liundreds  of  letters  I  have  received  that  it  must  be  yours — 
as  the  call  of  God  Himself,  and  if  from  mere  personal  considerations  I 
were  to  refuse  it  I  should  be  gTiilty  at  once  of  moral  cowardice  and  dis- 
loyalty to  the  vows  of  my  ordination.  It  is  the  call  of  God  and  He  will 
give  the  power  and  the  strength  to  answer  it.  Men  and  women  of  St. 
George's,  I  am  going  to  give  my  life  to  this  work  and  I  know  that  you 
will  stand  by  me.  Let  us  begin  this  new  era  in  the  history  of  this  parish 
on  our  knees.    Let  us  pray. 


WARDENS     AND     VESTRYMEN 

Gerrit  Huybert  Van  Wagenen,  Warden  1811-1821;  b.  New 
York,  Jan.  21,  1753;  m.  March  11,  1783,  Sarah  Brinckerhoff.  He 
was  2d  lieutenant  in  CoL  McDougal's  regiment  of  New  York  State 
troops;  left  New  York  in  August,  1775,  with  part  of  the  regiment 
for  Canada,  was  at  the  storming  of  Quebec  in  the  column  of  Gen. 
Montgomery.  Was  in  Canada  till  May,  1776,  when  he  returned  to 
New  York  in  charge  of  some  prisoners  whom  he  had  been  ordered  to 
take  to  Philadelphia.  Returned  from  Philadelphia,  and  hearing 
that  the  British  were  about  to  land  on  Long  Island  he  went  over 
and  offered  his  services  to  Gen.  Sullivan.     Sent  out  to  reconnoiter, 


432  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

he  was  taken  by  the  British  and  held  prisoner  about  twenty-two 
months  and  was  then  exchanged  and  appointed  commissary  with 
the  pay  and  rations  of  a  major.  He  continued  in  the  commissary 
department  about  three  years,  being  stationed  most  of  the  time  at 
Fishkill  and  West  Point.  After  the  war,  continued  to  reside  at 
5  Beekman  Slip  (now  33  Fulton  Street)  carrying  on  the  hardware 
business  in  partnership  with  his  father.  He  removed  in  1821  to 
Oxford,  Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died  November  20,  1835. 
He  had  been  a  vestryman  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  from  1808 
to  1811. 

Harry  Peters,  Warden  1811-1823;  b.  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  Nov. 
23,  1753 ;  d.  New  York,  Dec.  27,  1827 ;  buried  in  his  vault  in  church- 
yard of  St.  Paul's  Chapel;  s.  Valentine  Hewlett  and  Ruth  (Smith) 
Peters;  m.  1st  at  Hempstead,  June  25,  1776,  Magdalena  Duryea; 
2d,  Oct.  13,  1807,  Catharina  Brinckerhoff.  He  was  a  Tory  and 
served  as  an  officer  in  the  British  forces,  and  in  consequence  nearly 
lost  his  lands  after  the  war.  However,  he  became  Eepresentative 
from  Queen's  County  in  the  State  Assembly  for  the  session  of  1794. 
He  later  engaged  in  business  in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  lived 
on  Warren  Street,  Broadway,  and  Lispenard  Street.  He  was  buried 
in  his  vault  in  the  yard  of  St.  Paul's  Chapel. 

Robert  Wardell,  Vestryman  1811-1812  and  1816-1837;  b. 
Shrewsbury,  N.  J.;  d.  Astoria,  N.  Y.,  and  is  buried  in  St.  George's 
churchyard,  Astoria;  m.  Lavinia  Woods,  of  Morristown,  N.  J.  In 
mercantile  life. 

John  Onderdonk,  M.D.,  Vestryman  1811-1812;  b.  August  22, 
1763;  d.  August  23,  1832;  s.  Hendrick  and  Phebe  (Treadwell) 
Onderdonk;  m.  1st  Elizabeth  Fargie,  March  14,  1784;  2d  Deborah 
Ustick,  March  13,  1788.  He  studied  medicine  under  Dr.  Carlton  and 
was  president  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New  Y''ork  and 
a  very  well-known  physician.  Dr.  John  Onderdonk  was  the  father 
of  the  two  Bishops  Onderdonk  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania. 

Isaac  Carow,  Vestryman  1811-1812  and  1813-1823;  Warden 
1823-1825 ;  b.  Island  of  St.  Croix,  W.  I.,  March  29,  1778 ;  d.  New 
York  City,  Sept.  3,  1850;  s.  Isaac  Guereau,  of  New  Y^'ork,  and 
Ann  (Cooper)  Guereau,  of  St.  Kitts,  W.  I.  Educated  at  St.  Croix; 
m.  New  York,  July  31,  1803,  Eliza  Morratt.  He  was  a  shipping 
merchant. 


%.- 


GKRRIT   H.   VAN    WAGENEN 


HARRY    PETERS 


JOHN    OMDERDONK 


ISAAC    CAROW 


EDWARD    W.    LATGHT 


ISAAC    LATTREXCE 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  433 

Edward  W.  Laight,  Vestryman  1811-1816;  b.  New  York,  1773; 
d.  New  York,  1852;  s.  William  and  Frances  (Sackett)  Laiglit.  Was 
educated  at  King's  College,  N.  Y.,  and  admitted  to  N.  Y.  Bar  in 
1796;  m.  1st  Elizabeth  Golden  in  1785  at  New  York;  2d  Ann  Elliott 
Huger,  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  Was  a  lawyer  by  profession ;  president 
of  the  Eagle  Fire  Co.  of  N.  Y.  from  1816  to  1845 ;  vestryman  of 
Trinity  Church  1811-1812  and  1818-1845  and  warden  1845-1851; 
a  governor  of  the  Society  of  the  New  York  Hospital  and  a  general 
in  the  State  militia. 

John  Greene,  Vestryman  1811-1812. 

Isaac  Lawrence,  Vestryman  1811-1816;  b.  1768;  d.  July  12, 
1841;  s.  William  and  Ann  (Brinckerhoff)  Lawrence;  ed.  Princeton 
College;  m.  Cornelia  Beach,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Abraham  Beach, 
of  Trinity  Parish,  New  York.  Had  intended  to  become  a  lawyer,  but 
went  into  business  because  of  poor  health  with  his  brother  John  in 
1795.  A  merchant  on  a  large  scale.  Was  president  of  the  U.  S. 
Branch  Bank  from  1817  to  1836. 

Francis  Dominick,  Vestryman  1811-1816;  b.  in  France;  d.  in 
New  York,  May  16,  1822;  buried  in  the  family  vault  in  St.  Paul's 
churchyard.  Family  name  was  Dominique ;  on  coming  to  New  York 
with  his  brother  George  they  changed  it  to  Dominick;  m.  1st  Mar- 
guerite Blanchard;  2d  Ann  Huisler,  1779.  Lived  at  31  Cherry 
Street;  was  a  large  owner  of  real  estate;  vestryman  of  Trinity 
Church  1795-1811. 

Cornelius  Schermerhorn,  Vestryman  1811-1820;  b.  New  York, 
1750;  s.  John  and  Sarah  (Cannon)  Schermerhorn;  m.  Rebecca  Roe, 
of  Woodbridge,  N.  J.  Was  captain  in  the  privateer  service  during 
the  Revolution;  was  concerned  in  a  line  of  packets  between  New 
York  and  Charleston.  Brought  the  remains  of  Gen.  Montgomery 
from  Charleston  to  New  York.  Also  captain  of  the  Grand  Turk 
in  1781.  Said  to  have  been  a  man  of  "  vast  size  and  extraordinary 
strength. ' ' 

Quintin  Millen,  Vestryman  1812-1813 ;  m.  Amy  Millen,  by  whom 
he  had  sons  Hugh  and  John  and  one  daughter,  Jean.  In  his  will 
he  makes  the  following  bequest :  "  I  give  and  bequeath  the  Pew  No. 
51  in  the  middle  aisle  of  St.  George's  Church  unto  the  heirs  of  the 
late  John  Jones  of  this  city,  Ship  Chandler,  after  the  death  of  my 
wife  Amy  Millen  should  she  survive  me." 
28 


434  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

William  Ustick,  Vestryman  1812-1816 ;  m.  Trinity  Church,  New 
York,  Sarah  Hartshorne,  of  Shrewsbury,  N.  J,  "Was  engaged  in 
business  as  City  Weigher.  One  of  his  sisters  was  married  to  Dr. 
John  Onderdonk. 

Robert  Bogardus,  Vestryman  1812-1816.  A  lawyer  and  dealer 
in  real  estate.  He  was  colonel  of  the  41st  Eegiment  U.  S.  Infantry, 
commanding  the  American  troops  at  Fort  Lewis,  New  Utrecht,  L.  I. 
Was  a  director  in  the  Franklin  Bank,  which  was  established  in 
1818;  grand  marshal  on  the  occasion  of  the  obsequies  of  President 
Harrison  in  New  York  in  1841.  Was  buried  in  the  Marble  Cemetery 
on  Second  Street,  New  York. 

Donald  Malcom,  Vestryman  1812-1816 ;  m.  Ermina  Delves.  Was. 
a  merchant ;  in  1817  removed  to  Brooklyn  and  he  and  his  wife  were 
communicants  of  St.  Ann's  Church.  In  the  quaint  records  of  the 
old  Volunteer  Fire  Department  of  the  city  of  New  York  there  is 
this  item:  "  June  21,  1811.  Excuse  of  D.  Malcom  for  absence: 
'  He  then  stated  that  at  the  time  he  heard  the  alarm  he  was  in  White 
Street  with  Mrs.  Malcom — that  they  were  about  starting  for  home 
at  the  time  of  the  alarm — that  he  hurreyed  as  fast  as  possible — that 
before  he  got  to  his  house  the  alarm  subsided.'  It  was  then  moved 
that  he  be  fined  75/100  and  carreyed." 

James  De  Lancey  Walton,  Vestryman  1816-1821 ;  Warden  1821- 
1835;  b.  1762;  d.  at  326  Pearl  Street,  the  old  "  Walton  House,'' 
New  York,  Nov.  21,  1834;  s.  William  and  Mary  (De  Lancey)  Walton, 
eldest  daughter  of  Lieut.-Governor  and  Chief-Justice  James  De 
Lancey.  Was  in  no  business  or  profession.  Remained  unmarried. 
He  inherited  the  celebrated  Walton  mansion  in  1806  and  was  the 
last  inheritor  to  live  in  it.  In  his  boyhood  days  this  neighborhood 
was  called  St.  George's  Square,  afterward  and  now  Franklin  Square. 

Jacob  Lorillard,  Vestryman  1816-1817 ;  b.  New  York,  1774.  Was 
a  prominent  leather  merchant.  His  brothers  were  the  well-known 
tobacco  merchants.  Was  a  trustee  of  the  General  Theological  Semi- 
nary; Warden  of  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Harlem;  Vestryman  of 
Trinity  Church  1826-1839  and  President  of  the  Mechanics'  Bank. 

Edmund  Morewood,  Vestryman  1816-1825;  Warden  1825-1829; 
b.  Salford,  Lancashire,  England,  May  11,  1770;  d.  Stamford,  Conn.^ 
Sept.  17,  1861;  s.  Andrew  and  Helen  (Baker)  Morewood;  ed.  Man- 


CORXELIUS    SCHERMERHORN 


JACOB    LORILLARD 


JAMES    DE    LANCET    WALTON 


EDMUND    MOREWOOD 


DAVID    R.    LAMBERT 


BIOGKAPHICAL    SKETCHES  435 

Chester,  England,  Grammar  School ;  m.  1st  New  York,  June  11,  1803, 
Jane  Glover;  2d  New  York,  Nov.  18.  1805,  Sarah  Eliza  Walton. 
Merchant  and  ship-owner;  member  St.  George's  Society,  1790;  Di- 
rector American  Insurance  Co.,  1816;  Senior  Warden  St.  John's, 
Stamford,  1845-6.  It  was  said  of  him  in  The  Old  Merchants  of 
Netv  York  City,  by  Walter  Barrett : 

He  had  a  country  seat  at  Love  Lane,  what  is  now  Seventeenth  and 
Eighteenth  streets.  He  was  famous  in  field  sports — shooting,  fisliing,  etc., 
and  was  a  most  remarkable  pedestrian.  Even  in  his  old  age  he  might  be 
seen  in  his  black  spencer  pacing  oft'  his  fifteen  or  twenty  miles.  He  died 
in  Sept.,  1861,  at  Stamford,  Conn.,  the  residence  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr. 
Ferguson,  where  he  had  spent  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life.  His  funeral 
was  attended  by  all  classes  of  citizens,  the  stores  being  closed  out  of 
respect  to  his  memory.  He  was  a  pure  man  without  an  enemy  in  the 
world. 

David  Rogers  Lambert,  Vestryman  1816-1817;  b.  Dec.  6,  1772, 
Norwalk,  Conn. ;  d.  New  York,  June  3,  1825 ;  s.  David  and  Susannah 
(Rogers)  Lambert.  Was  a  prominent  merchant  in  New  York;  noted 
for  public  spirit  and  generosity.  Member  Society  of  the  N.  Y. 
Hospital. 

Joseph  Warren  Brackett,  Vestryman  1816-1820 ;  b.  Lee,  N.  H., 
August  10,  1775;  d.  New  York,  March  30,  1826  (at  99  Beekman 
Street)  ;  s.  Lieut.  Joseph  Brackett,  whose  family  was  of  Welsh  and 
English  extraction;  ed.  Lee,  N.  H.,  and  Dartmouth  College,  where 
he  became  a  classmate  and  lifelong  friend  of  Daniel  Webster; 
m.  New  York,  Nov.  21,  1808,  Charlotte  Wiggins,  of  this  city,  double 
cousin  and  adopted  sister  of  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Berrian,  of  Trinity 
Parish.  Was  a  prominent  lawyer  with  offices  in  John  and  Pearl 
streets  and  later  at  99  Beekman  Street,  Was  very  earnest  in  Church 
work  and  in  private  benevolence;  Alderman  under  Mayor  De  Witt 
Clinton  and  held  some  rank  in  the  city  militia;  a  founder  of  the 
New  England  Society  in  1805,  also  its  secretary  and  counsel.  His 
ode,  "  Hail,  Sons  of  the  Pilgrims,"  was  sung  by  that  society  during 
many  years ;  member  of  the  N.  Y.  Historical  Society. 

Thomas  Lawrance,  Vestryman  1817-3826;  b.  April  18,  1785; 
d.  New  York  Nov.  3,  1848;  s.  Thomas  and  Eleanor  (Earle)  Law- 
rance; m.  New  York,  July  21,  1812,  Margaret  Ireland.  Was  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  the  New  York  Hospital. 

James  Moody  Hoyt,  Vestryman  1817-1823 ;  b.  Weymouth,  N.  S., 
Jan.  25,  1789;  d.  Norwalk,  Conn.,  Aug.  5,  1854;  s.  Jesse  and  Mary 


436  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Hoyt;  m.  New  York,  May  12,  1814,  Mary  Nesbitt,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Nesbitt.  Came  to  this  city  when  about  seventeen  years  of 
age;  was  in  business  here  for  over  fifty  years;  an  influential  and 
prominent  merchant ;  a  man  of  strict  integrity  and  Christian  probity. 
Some  of  his  sons  continue  the  business  handed  down  by  their  father. 

Gerardus  a.  Cooper,  M.D.,  Vestryman  1820-1823;  b.  1788;  d. 
New  York,  Aug.  3,  1832 ;  m.  Anne  L.  Cooper ;  graduated  from  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  1811  in  the  first  class  graduating 
from  that  institution;  appointed  a  Fellow  in  the  same  year.  Was 
physician  to  New  York  City  Dispensary;  member  of  the  Smallpox 
Committee;  secretary  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New 
York. 

Hubert  Van  Wagenen,  Vestryman  1820-1829;  Warden  1829- 
1837;  b.  New  York  (No.  5.  Beekman  Slip),  Feb.  3,  1785;  d.  Pough- 
keepie,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  31,  1852;  s.  Gerrit  H.  and  Sarah  (Brinckerhoff) 
Van  Wagenen ;  ed.  private  schools  of  city ;  graduated  from  Columbia 
CoUege;  m.  Eed  Hook,  Dutchess  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  20,  1808,  Mary 
Wheeler,  daughter  of  Dr.  William  and  Elizabeth  (Smith)  Wheeler, 
For  many  years  was  engaged  in  the  hardware  business  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Queen  (Pearl)  Street  and  Beekman  Slip;  removed  to  Pough- 
keepsie  in  1837;  was  a  governor  of  the  Society  of  the  New  ITork 
Hospital. 

Thomas  Bloodgood,  Vestryman  1821-1837;  Warden  1837-1844; 
b.  Flushing,  L.  I. ;  d.  New  Y''ork,  1843 ;  was  married  twice ;  his  sec- 
ond wife  was  a  Miss  Parsons  of  Flushing.  Was  engaged  in  business 
as  a  wine  merchant  and  was  also  agent  for  the  Bloodgood  nurseries 
of  Flushing. 

Oliver  Hewlett  Hicks,  Vestryman  1823-1826;  b.  Eockaway, 
L.  I.,  June  30,  1781;  d.  N.  Y.  City  of  cholera,  Sept.  17,  1832; 
s.  Stephen  and  Mary  (Hewlett)  Hicks ;  m.  1800  Julia  Bush,  daughter 
of  Samuel  and  Anne  (Quintard)  Bush  of  Greenwich,  Conn.  Was 
an  importer  from  1800  to  1819  at  88  South  Street;  secretary  of 
Fulton  Fire  Insurance  Co.,  cashier  of  Fulton  Bank,  and  president 
of  Farmers'  Fire  Insurance  and  Loan  Co.  He  was  vestryman, 
warden,  and  treasurer  of  St.  Michael's  Church  from  1807  to  1815; 
sold  his  pew  in  St.  George's  for  $500  in  1826  and  united  with  the 
new  St.  Thomas'  Church, 

John  Stearns,  M.D.,  Vestr^-man  1823-1835 ;  Warden  1835-1848 ; 
b.  Wilbraham,  IMass.,  May  16,  1770;  d.  N.  Y".  City,  March  18,  1848; 


JOSEPH    W.    BRACKETT 


THOMAS    LAWRANCE 


HUBERT    VAN    WAGENEN 


OLIVER    H.    HICKS 


JOHN    STEARNS 


JOHN    ANTHON 


BIOGRAPHICAL     SKETCHES  437 

s.  John  and  Elizabeth  (Willis)  Stearns;  m.  Waterford,  N.  Y.,  Sally 
Ketchum,  daughter  of  Col.  Hezekiah  Ketchum ;  ed.  at  Yale ;  gradu- 
ated in  1789;  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Sergeant  of  Stockbridge; 
attended  lectures  University  of  Penn.  1792-3,  but  did  not  receive 
the  doctorate  till  1812,  when  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  New 
York  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  M.D.  He  settled 
first  in  Waterford,  N.  Y.,  but  upon  his  election  to  the  Senate  of 
New  York  in  1809  removed  to  Albany,  where  he  remained  till  1819, 
when  he  removed  to  New  York  City,  where  he  became  famous  in 
the  medical  profession.  He  died  from  blood  poisoning  after  per- 
forming an  operation.  He  was  a  philosopher  and  scholar  and  a 
great  student  of  the  Bible.  Was  a  Trustee  of  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons;  a  founder  of  the  American  Tract  Society; 
first  president  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  New  York;  president 
of  the  State  Medical  Society,  and  was  largely  interested  in  the 
Institution  for  the  Benefit  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb.  He  was  the 
first  to  make  the  medical  profession  acquainted  with  the  medical 
properties  of  Secale  Cornutum  or  ergot.  Author  of  several  pam- 
phlets, one  on  "  The  Philosophy  of  the  Mind." 

John  Anthon,  Vestryman  1823-1827:  m.  a  daughter  of  John 
Hone,  of  New  York,  and  was  a  prominent  lawyer;  delivered  an 
addi'ess  before  the  Washington  and  Hamilton  societies  at  Washing- 
ton Hall  on  July  4,  1812,  which  was  celebrated  in  that  year  with 
unusual  display  and  patriotic  sentiment. 

Thomas  S.  Townsend,  Vestryman  1825-1828 ;  Warden  1832-1833 ; 
b.  Flushing,  L.  I.,  Sept.  14,  1771;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Jan.  11,  1834; 
s.  Richard  and  Rosetta  Townsend;  m.  N,  Y.  City,  Feb,  28,  1797, 
Margaret  Nostrand.    Was  a  merchant  in  the  city. 

James  A.  Burtus,  Vestryman  1826-1844;  Warden  1844-1846; 
b.  Newton,  L.  I.,  Nov.  2,  1788 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  May  13,  1871 ;  s.  Peter 
and  Martha  (Denton)  Burtus;  m.  1st  Rachel  K.  Burtus,  widow  of 
his  brother  Samuel,  about  1822 ;  2d  New  York,  June  1,  1830,  Jane 
Branson.  Was  a  bookseller,  stationer,  and  dealer  in  uncurrent 
money  and  a  director  of  the  Franklin  Bank,  established  in  1818. 

William  Shatzel,  Vestryman  1826-1832;  Warden  1833-1839,- 
b.  March  11,  1774 ;  d.  82  Beekman  Street,  N.  Y.,  Nov.,  1848 ;  m.  Elsie 
Hall.  Was  a  Cordwainer  and  Street  Inspector.  He  was  a  man  of 
fervent  piety  and  has  left  many  volumes  of  closely  written  matter 


438  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

in  the  form  of  essays  upon  various  portions  of  the  Scriptures  and 
upon  various  themes  of  religious  thought.  They  breathe  an  intensely 
pious  spirit.  They  are  all  written  in  a  clear,  beautiful  hand  and 
indexed,  and  are  a  model  of  neatness  throughout. 

John  Henry  Hill,  Vestryman  1827-1829 ;  b.  New  York,  Sept.  11, 
1791 ;  d.  Athens,  Greece,  July  1,  1882 ;  m.  New  York,  April  26,  1821, 
Frances  Maria  Mulligan.  Graduated  from  Columbia  College  and 
studied  for  the  ministry  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  from  1829,  to  1830. 
Had  been  a  merchant  in  N.  Y.,  but  left  commercial  life  in  1829. 
iWas  appointed  Missionary  to  Greece  in  1830,  becoming  the  associate 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Robertson,  our  first  Missionary  to  that  country. 
In  Greece  Dr.  Hill  became  a  very  well-known  educator.  At  Athens 
he  and  his  wife  established  a  girls'  school,  which  has  been  a  potent 
force  in  the  educational  uplift  of  many  women  of  the  higher  classes. 
On  his  death  at  Athens  the  Greek  government,  in  recognition  of 
his  educational  work  among  the  women  of  Athens,  buried  him  with 
the  honors  of  a  taxiarch,  and  the  Athenian  municipality  erected  a 
monument  to  his  memory.  Honorary  degrees  were  conferred  on  him 
by  Harvard  and  Columbia,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Jeremiah  H.  Taylor,  Vestryman  1828-1832 ;  b.  Middle  Haddam, 
Conn.,  Feb.  3,  1797 ;  d.  Portland,  Conn.,  Oct.  10,  1882 ;  s.  Col.  Jere- 
miah and  Lucy  Taylor ;  m.  1st  Roda  Ward,  May  14,  1818 ;  2d  Sarah 
J.  Brainerd,  Nov.  25, 1847.  Was  educated  in  Conn,  and  N.  Y.  institu- 
tions. A  business  man  in  New  York;  was  very  active  in  the  earli- 
est Sunday-school  work  of  St.  George 's ;  in  later  life  built  a  chapel 
in  Portland,  Conn.,  in  which  he  officiated  as  lay  reader  until  within 
two  years  of  his  death.  A  devout  and  earnest  Christian  worker. 
Published  in  1860  Sketches  of  the  Religious  Experience  and  Labors 
of  a  Layman.  Was  superintendent  of  the  colored  part  of  a  branch 
Sunday-school  of  the  N.  Y.  Sunday-school  Union  in  Duane  Street, 
in  which  branch  St.  George's  was  largely  interested.  He  was  also 
connected  with  many  charitable,  educational,  and  public  institutions. 
Went  voluntarily  to  preach  to  and  nurse  the  sick  and  wounded  in 
the  Civil  War. 

Brittain  Lawrence  Woolley,  Vestrjinan  1829-1848;  b.  N.  Y. 
City  Jan.  20,  1787 ;  d.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  August  20,  1849 ;  s.  Thomas 
and  Rachel  H.  Woolley;  m.  St.  Paul's  Church,  N.  Y.  City,  1812, 
Susan  Rooke,  daughter  of  Capt.  John  Rooke;  ed.  private  schools  in 
N.  Y.  City.    Was  an  importer  of  tea.    A  trustee  of  the  Institution 


THQTMAS    S.    TOWNSEND 


JOHN    H.    HILL 


ll^^' 


JEKEMIAH    H.    TAYLOR 


BRITTAIN-    L.    TVOOLLEY 


JOHN    NOBLE 


JAMES   I.    HOYT 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  439 

for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb;  director  N.  Y.  Bible  and  Prayer  Book 
Society;  a  prominent  and  influential  member  of  St.  George's. 

John  W.  Mulligan,  Vestryman  1829-1832 ;  b.  N.  Y.  City  April 
13,  1774;  d.  N.  Y.  City  Jan.  19,  1862;  s.  Hercules  and  Elizabetb 
(Saunders)  Mulligan;  m.  1790  Elizabeth  Winter,  of  Louisville,  Ky. ; 
graduate  of  Columbia  College.  Admitted  an  attorney  in  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  State  May  4,  1795;  had  a  large  practice;  was 
a  prominent,  public-spirited,  and  popular  man ;  was  Assistant  Alder- 
man for  the  Third  Ward  from  1806  to  1809  and  Surrogate  of  the 
County  in  1810.  One  of  his  daughters  married  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Henry  Hill,  who  settled  in  Athens,  Greece.  Mr.  Mulligan  later  went 
to  Greece,  servdng  as  U.  S.  Consul  at  Athens  for  many  years.  Baron 
Steuben,  whose  secretary  he  had  been,  died  in  1794,  leaving  a  will 
containing  this  clause :  "  To  John  W.  Mulligan  I  bequeath  the  whole 
of  my  library,  maps  and  charts  and  the  sum  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  to  complete  it. ' ' 

John  Noble,  Vestryman  1832-1834 ;  b.  Yorkshire,  England,  April, 
1771 ;  d.  New  York,  Oct.  18,  1853 ;  m.  Woodbridge,  N.  J.,  Lucia, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Azel  Roe.  Was  an  importer  of  wines; 
member  of  the  St.  George's  Society. 

James  I.  Hoyt,  Vestryman  1832-1841;  b.  Norwalk,  Conn.,  Dec. 
20,  1782 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Nov.  14,  1858 ;  s.  Isaac  and  Mary  (Raymond) 
Hoyt ;  m.  Stamford,  Conn.,  1807,  Susan  Benedict,  daughter  of 
William  Benedict.  Mr.  Hoyt  was  in  mercantile  business  for  many 
years  in  the  city  with  his  cousin,  Goold  Hoyt. 

William  Whitlock,  Jr.,  Vestryman  1835-1846;  Warden  1846- 
1863;  b.  New  York,  Jan.  23,  1791;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  July  11,  1875; 
s.  William  and  Sarah  (Morrell)  Whitlock;  m.  Oct.  28,  1818,  Eliza 
Haight  Scott,  daughter  of  John  Van  der  Spiegel  Scott,  of  Athens, 
N.  Y.  Was  a  well-known  merchant  in  New  York  of  the  highest  char- 
acter and  standing ;  for  many  years  engaged  in  business  with  France 
and  other  countries  and  owner  of  a  line  of  packet  ships  running 
between  New  York  and  Havre,  favorites  of  the  traveling  public  until 
steam  drove  sailing-vessels  out  of  the  business.  One  of  these  ships 
was  in  1824  placed  at  the  disposal  of  General  Lafayette  and  brought 
him  to  this  city  on  that  memorable  visit  at  Mr.  WTiitlock's  expense. 
Was  a  director  in  the  Bank  of  America  for  many  years;  also  a 
director,  treasurer,  and  vice-president  of  the  American  Bible  So- 


440  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

ciety;  member  of  the  Society  of  the  New  York  Hospital.  Took  a 
deep  interest  in  benevolent  and  religious  institutions  generally; 
interested  in  polities,  but  was  never  a  candidate  for  office.  Was 
awarded  a  warrant  for  160  acres  of  land  for  military  service  in  the 
militia  during  the  War  of  1812,  part  of  the  time  in  one  of  the 
harbor  forts.  A  certificate  dated  July  1,  1814,  states  that  he  served 
as  soldier  for  seven  years  in  the  Eleventh  Regiment  of  Artillery 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  Besides  being  vestryman  and  warden, 
Mr.  Whitlock  was  for  a  series  of  years  treasurer  of  St.  George's 
Church,  and  in  that  capacity  rendered  most  important  service  in 
its  financial  affairs,  particularly  in  carrying  its  finances  through 
the  business  troubles  contingent  upon  the  outbreak  of  the  French 
Revolution  of  1848,  which  occurred  at  the  time  when  the  present 
church  building  was  under  construction.  Although  his  own  busi- 
ness with  France  was  seriously  affected  by  the  crisis  and  his  losses 
were  heavy,  he  met  the  liabilities  of  the  Church  by  large  personal 
advances  of  money,  thus  preventing  the  sacrificing  of  investments  at 
the  low  prices  then  current.  The  vestry  presented  him  with  Pew 
No.  127,  the  use  of  which  he  gave  to  the  church  during  his  life- 
time ;  afterward  it  was  surrendered  to  the  church.  He  was  a 
merchant  of  singularly  incorruptible  integrity  and  extraordinary 
sagacity,  and  in  every  relation  of  life  did  justice,  loved  mercy,  and 
walked  humbly  with  his  God. 

Frederick  A.  Tracy,  Vestryman  1835-1839;  b.  Norwich,  Conn., 
Oct.  23,  1789 ;  d.  New  York,  Jan.  14,  1843 ;  s.  Frederick  and  Deborah 
(Thomas)  Tracy;  m.  March  13,  1813,  Eliza  Ripley.  Was  a  Stock 
Exchange  broker ;  superintendent  of  the  white  department  of  Duane 
Street  Sunday-school,  in  which  St.  George's  was  largely  concerned; 
member  of  the  Bible  Society  and  member  of  the  Society  of  the 
New  Y''ork  Hospital, 

Stewart  Brown,  Vestryman  1837-1841 ;  b.  Baltimore,  Jan.  4, 
1802;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Jan.  30,  1880;  s.  Stewart  and  Sarah  (Harman) 
Brown;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  May  6,  1830,  Mary  Ann  Abbott;  educated 
in  Baltimore  and  became  one  of  the  principal  partners  in  the  bank- 
ing-house of  Brown  Brothers  &  Co.,  of  New  York.  Barrett's  Old 
Merchants  of  New  York  City  says: 

The  main  partners,  James  and  Stewart,  are  the  most  modest  and  un- 
assuming- of  our  citizens.  There  is  no  show  or  parade  with  them.  James 
never  rides  except  in  a  one-horse  coupe.  Stewart  never  rides  except  in  an 
omnibus.  He  walks  quick,  one  hand  behind  the  small  of  his  back,  and 
carries  a  little  cane. 


WILLIAM    WHITI.OCK.    JR. 


FREDERICK    A.    TRACY 


STEWART    BROWN 


FREDERICK    S.    WINSTON 


Rrr-HARD    B.    BROWK 


ANDREW    M.    ARCULARIUS 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  441 

He  was  one  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  New  York  Associa- 
tion for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor ;  was  a  thoughtful  and 
generous  giver  and  deeply  interested  in  the  Evangelical  Societies 
of  the  Church  and  in  the  Virginia  Theological  Seminary. 

Frederick  Seymour  Winston,  Vestryman  1837-1848;  Warden 
1848-1855;  b.  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  14,  1806;  d.  Fernandina,  Fla., 
March  27,  1885;  s.  Frederick  and  Susan  (Seymour)  Winston; 
m.  N.  Y,  City,  1833,  Lucy  Ann  Cotton.  Was  given  a  common  school 
training  and  spent  his  youth  on  a  farm  in  Utica.  Coming  to  N.  Y. 
City  when  twenty-years  old,  he  became  a  clerk  for  Halsted,  Haines 
&  Co.,  dry-goods  merchants,  then  junior  partner  in  that  firm,  and 
later  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  business  under  his  own  name. 
In  1846  he  was  chosen  a  trustee  of  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co. 
In  June,  1853,  Mr,  Winston  was  elected  president  of  the  company, 
and  devoted  his  energies  to  the  new  position  with  signal  success, 
remaining  its  president  until  his  death.  Was  vice-president  of 
American  Bible  Society ;  an  incorporator  and  trustee  of  the  Shelter- 
ing Arms;  member  of  the  New  York  Sabbath  Committee  and  of 
the  Foreign  Missionary  Committee  of  the  Church,  in  which  latter 
capacity  he  rendered  long  and  valuable  service;  was  interested  in 
the  Aural  and  Ophthalmic  Institute  of  New  York.  While  deeply 
concerned  in  practically  all  Church  work,  he  was  especially  active 
in  the  Sunday-school,  having  been  superintendent  of  that  of  old 
St.  George's  in  Beekman  Street.  His  services  were  invaluable  to 
Dr.  Tyng  and  St.  George's  during  the  whole  period  of  removal 
from  Beekman  Street  and  establishment  in  Stuyvesant  Square. 

Thatcher  Tucker,  Vestryman  1839-1843 ;  b.  Milton,  Mass.,  July 
20,  1788 ;  d.  Montclair,  N.  J.,  October,  1868 ;  s.  Samuel  and  Abigail 
(Vose)  Tucker;  m.  Cornish,  N.  H.,  1825,  Louisa  Higginson  Brown; 
ed.  Milton  Academy,  Milton,  Mass.  Was  a  commission  merchant. 
Original  member  of  the  American  Institute  and  Mercantile  Library. 

Richard  Bowen  Brown,  Vestryman  1839-1840;  b.  Foster  (a 
suburb  of  Providence),  R.  I.,  April  13,  1797;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Jan. 
8,  I860;  s.  Allen  and  Mahala  (Bowen)  Brown;  m.  1st  Middlebury, 
Vt.,  Charlotte  Bissell;  2d  Caroline  E.,  daughter  of  Chas.  Piatt 
Rogers,  of  N.  Y.  City ;  ed.  at  Middlebury  College,  Vt.  In  business 
was  connected  with  the  firm  of  Brown  &  Hone,  Importers,  New 
York ;  was  president  of  the  Mercantile  Library  for  five  years,  1827- 
1831.     By  his  high  intelligence  and  untiring  devotion  to  its  inter- 


442  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

ests  he  was  the  means  of  commending  the  Mercantile  Library  to  the 
attention  of  men  of  letters  and  men  of  influence  in  the  community ; 
and  it  is  to  his  exertions,  perhaps,  more  than  to  those  of  any  other 
person  that  the  erection  of  the  first  Clinton  Hall  was  due.  He  was 
a  man  of  very  extensive  reading,  of  rare  modesty,  and  died  sincerely 
lamented  by  all  who  were  familiar  with  his  worth,  integrity,  and 
usefulness. 

Thomas  L.  Callender,  Vestryman  1840-1850;  d.  N.  Y.  March, 
1850 ;  m.  New  York  Nov.  4,  1833,  Hetty  Judah.  He  was  a  merchant. 
On  the  death  of  Mr.  Callender  the  Vestry  put  on  record  their 
"  grateful  remembrance  of  the  fidelity,  patience,  and  unobtrusive 
Christian  character  of  their  late  associate,  Thomas  L.  Callender,  for 
many  years  connected  with  the  corporation  of  this  church  in  the 
prosperity  of  which  he  manifested  the  liveliest  interest. ' ' 

Andrew  M.  Arcularius,  Vestryman  1841-1846;  b.  N.  Y.  City, 
Oct.  26,  1786;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  March  27,  1867;  s.  Philip  Jacob  and 
Elizabeth  (Grim)  Arcularius;  m.  New  London,  Conn.,  April  23, 
1827,  Eliza  Lucretia  Saltonstall,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  and  Mary 
(Lanphier)  Saltonstall.  Was  a  merchant  under  the  firm  name  of 
Arcularius  &  Bonnett. 

Adolphus  Lane,  Vestryman  1841-1855 ;  Warden  1855-1871 ; 
b.  Livingston  Manor,  N.  Y.,  April  3,  1796;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Feb., 
1876;  s.  Jonathan  and  Sylvia  (Ketchum)  Lane;  m.  N.  Y.  City, 
August,  1824,  Jane  Maria  Stearns,  only  daughter  of  Dr.  John 
Stearns;  ed.  academy  at  Red  Hook,  N.  Y.  His  father  was  quite  a 
scholar  and  taught  his  six  boys  Latin  at  home.  Was  a  prominent 
dry-goods  merchant.  Served  in  War  of  1812.  Was  for  many  years 
a  teacher  in  St.  George's  Sunday-school  and  much  respected  and 
beloved.  During  the  last  six  years  of  his  life  he  was  a  helpless 
sufferer  through  having  been  run  over  by  a  heavily  laden  wagon  in 
Broadway.  When  St.  George's  Church  was  building,  the  architect, 
Mr.  Eidlitz,  often  consulted  him  and  frequently  acted  on  his  sug- 
gestions. 

Samuel  M.  Cornell,  Vestryman  1843-1860;  b.  Wliite  Plains, 
N.  Y.,  Dec.  25,  1806;  d.  CatskiU,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  17,  1883;  s.  Elijah 
and  Mary  (Willis)  Cornell;  m.  1st  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  1832, 
Eveline  J.  Howland;  2d  N.  Y.  City,  1858,  Jane  L.  Gardiner,  of 
Troy,  N.  Y. ;  was  educated  in  New  York  and  afterward  continued 


"^Pr 


4SL 


ADOLPIIUS    LANK 


HIRAM    KETCHUM 


SAMUEL    M.    CORNELL 


HENRY    ANSTICE 


*-fl5%- 


JOSEPH    LAWRENCE 


JACOB   LE  ROY 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  443 

his  father's  hardware  business  until  about  1870.     Was  a  Director 
in  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co.  for  many  years, 

Felix  A.  Huntington,  Vestryman  1844-1847;  b.  Norwich,  Conn., 
1789;  d.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  1862;  s.  Felix  and  Anna  (Perkins)  Hunt- 
ington; m.  1811,  Frances  Snow.  Moved  from  Norwich,  Conn.,  to 
this  city,  1825.  Importing  merchant  of  prominence  and  good  stand- 
ing. He  made  some  eleven  trips  to  Europe  in  the  space  of  a  dozen 
years.  In  1849  retired  from  business  and  moved  to  Brooklyn,  where 
he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer  and  its 
senior  warden  from  the  organization  of  the  parish  until  his  death 
in  1862. 

Hiram  Ketchum,  Vestryman  1846-1848 ;  b.  Stillwater,  now  Malta, 
Saratoga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  16,  1793;  d.  Riverdale,  Westchester  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Sept.  16,  1870;  s.  Amos  and  Arabella  (Landon)  Ketchum; 
m.  Thompson,  Conn.,  Feb.  18,  1827,  Ann,  daughter  of  Rev.  Daniel 
Dow;  came  to  this  city  in  1809  and  was  licensed  to  practice  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  N.  Y.,  May,  1815.  He  identified  him- 
self largely  with  most  of  the  social,  political,  religious,  and  literary 
movements  of  the  day.  His  most  famous  law  trial  was  that  of 
Bishop  Onderdonk,  in  which  he  appeared  for  the  prosecution.  He 
was  a  warm  partisan  of  the  Silver  Grey  Whig  party,  though  he 
never  held  any  public  office. 

Henry  Anstice,  Vestryman  1846-1854;  b.  South  Petherton, 
Somerset,  England,  Nov.  12,  1807;  d.  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  May  21, 
1897;  s.  John  and  Mary  (Selby)  Anstice;  m.  New  London,  Conn,, 
Oct.  10,  1838,  Mary  Saltonstall,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Saltonstall 
and  Mary  Lanphier.  Received  his  education  in  English  schools  and 
came  to  New  York  in  1827.  His  earlier  business  career  was  with 
the  publishing  firm  of  Betts  &  Anstice  in  Broadway,  opposite  St. 
Paul's  Chapel,  but  in  1835  he  established  himself  as  a  stationer 
and  law  blank  publisher  at  Nassau  and  Cedar  streets.  Removed 
his  residence  to  Yonkers  in  1854  and  retired  from  active  business 
some  j^ears  before  his  death.  Was  a  teacher  in  St.  George's  Sunday- 
school  and  rendered  efficient  service  as  chairman  of  the  committees 
on  pews  and  music  during  the  constructive  period  of  settling  the 
congregation  in  the  new  St.  George's  Church. 

Jacob  Le  Roy,  Vestryman  1848-1854;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Nov.  27, 
1794 ;  d.  Fairfield,  Conn.,  Feb.  4,  1868 ;  s.  Herman  Le  Roy ;  m,  1st 


444  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Charlotte  Downes  Otis,  May  20,  1822;  2d  Charlotte  Otis  Downes, 
Dec.  15,  1853.    Was  engaged  in  business  as  shipping  merchant. 

Joseph  Lawrence,  Vestryman  1847-1863;  b.  Flushing,  Oct.  3, 
1797;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  June  11,  1865;  s.  Henry  and  Harriet  (Van 
Wyck)  Lawrence;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  Nov.  14,  1823,  Rosetta  Townsend, 
daughter  of  Thomas  S.  Townsend.  Was  educated  at  Flushing,  L.  I. 
He  was  a  merchant;  president  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  New 
York;  treasurer  of  the  city  of  New  York;  president  of  the  United 
States  Trust  Company  upon  its  formation  in  April,  1853,  holding 
that  position  with  much  distinction  until  compelled  by  ill  health  to 
resign  May,  1865,  and  for  many  years  was  a  director  in  the  New 
York  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum. 

Peter  G.  Arcularius,  Vestryman  1848-1858 ;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Feb. 
3,  1790 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  March  18,  1858 ;  s.  Philip  Jacob  and  Elizabeth 
(Grim)  Arcularius;  m.  New  London,  Conn.,  April  17,  1826,  Augusta 
Saltonstall.  He  was  a  merchant  in  the  city.  Was  deeply  concerned 
in  the  welfare  of  St.  George's,  and  was  one  of  the  building  com- 
mittee of  the  new  church. 

Samuel  Hopkins,  Vestryman  1848-1866;  Warden  1866-1873; 
b.  N.  Y.  City,  Nov.  2,  1809 ;  d.  Catskill,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  9,  1882 ;  s.  Free- 
man and  Phebe  (Davis)  Hopkins;  m.  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Susan  Elizabeth 
Gardner.  Was  educated  in  N.  Y.  City  and  engaged  in  business  as 
an  iron  merchant.  He  was  connected  with  the  Seaman's  Mission 
and  the  Society  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  and  was 
a  teacher  in  St.  George's  Sunday-school. 

William  K.  Strong,  Vestryman  1850-1860;  b.  Duanesburgh,  N. 
Y.,  April  30,  1805;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  March  16,  1867;  s.  Josiah  and 
Martha  (Green)  Strong;  m.  1st  N.  Y.,  Sarah  Ann  Van  Gieson;  2d 
Feb.  4,  1846,  Helen  Mary  Hart,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y. ;  ed.  in  Duanes- 
burgh and  N.  Y.  Was  a  wool  merchant.  Pres.  of  Bank  of  Geneva, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  had  large  country  place ;  Director  of  Bank  of  Amer- 
ica, N.  Y.  City,  for  eight  years.  Was  instrumental  in  organizing 
Bank  of  North  America  and  was  its  vice-president.  In  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  served  on  its  most  important  committees;  member  of 
the  N.  Y.  Historical  Society.  Was  vice-president  and  an  organizer 
of  the  Union  League  Club  of  N.  Y.  City;  trustee  Mutual  Life  In- 
surance Co. ;  a  director  in  American  Bible  Society ;  member  of 
National  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.     He  was  at  Alexandria  in  Egypt 


0^ 

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PETER    G.    ARCULARIUS 


SAMUEL    HOPKIXS 


WILLIAM    K.    STRONG 


ROSS    W.    WOOD 


'':^iS^  ^^, 


CHARLES    TRACY 


HORACE    WEBSTER 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  445 

when  the  attack  was  made  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  hurried  to  Paris, 
organized  an  American  banquet,  and  raised  money  with  which  he 
bought  arms  for  the  national  government  and  shipped  them  home 
at  once.  On  his  return  he  made  patriotic  addresses  and  soon  entered 
the  army.  Receiving  a  commission  from  President  Lincoln  as 
brigadier-general  of  volunteers  Sept.  28,  1861,  he  was  assigned  to 
duty  first  in  Missouri,  later  in  the  East,  drilling  and  forwarding 
troops;  and  then  in  St.  Louis  on  Military  Commission  and  General 
Court  Martial.  Honorably  discharged  Oct.  30,  1863.  His  health 
was  broken  by  severe  service. 

Ross  "Wyman  Wood,  Vestryman  1854-1869;  b.  Dracut,  Mass., 
July  19,  1795;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  April,  1880;  s.  Daniel  and  Hannah 
(Baron)  Woods;  m.  Albany,  Jan.  1,  1826,  Anna  Dunn;  ed.  at  Dracut 
and  Boston,  Mass.  Was  a  tea  merchant  in  New  York  City  and  a 
member  of  New  York  Historical  Society,  Mr.  Wood  was  a  boyhood 
and  lifelong  friend  of  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng. 

Charles  Tracy,  Vestryman  1854-1871;  Warden  1871-1885; 
b.  Whitesborough,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  10,  1810;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  March  14, 
1885 ;  m.  Louisa  Kirkland ;  graduated  at  Yale  College  and  entered 
the  profession  of  law  and  became  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
New  York  Bar.  He  was  a  member  of  the  city  Board  of  Education, 
the  Bible  Society,  the  De  Witt  Dispensary,  the  Mission  to  Seamen. 
At  the  Diocesan  Convention  following  his  decease  the  Bishop  said : 

Mr.  Charles  Tracy  was  often  heard  on  this  floor  and  won  here  the  hearty 
respect  of  those  from  whom  he  most  widely  differed.  His  excellent  knowl- 
edge of  parliamentary  usage,  his  readiness  as  a  debater,  his  clear  and 
acute  legal  mind,  made  him  one  of  the  most  helpful  and  influential  laymen 
who  ever  arose  ui^on  this  floor.  His  direct  integrity,  his  upright  life,  his 
warm  sympathies  made  him  a  power  outside  of  it  wherever  he  was  heard 
and  known.  To  say  that  we  shall  miss  him,  especially  here,  is  feebly  to 
indicate  the  void  which  has  been  made  by  his  dejDarture. 

Horace  Webster,  LL.D.,  Vestryman  1855-1865.  He  was  the 
first  president  of  the  Free  Academy  on  the  corner  of  Twenty-third 
Street  and  Lexington  Avenue  founded  in  1848,  the  first  institution 
established  in  the  country  for  the  purpose  of  extending  a  college 
education  free  of  charge  to  the  pupils  of  the  public  schools.  In 
1854  the  Legislature  passed  a  law  endowing  the  institution  with 
power  to  confer  upon  its  graduates  the  usual  collegiate  degrees  in 
the  Arts  and  Sciences.  In  1866  the  Legislature  changed  the  name 
to  that  of  "  The  College  of  the  City  of  New  York  "  and  conferred 


446  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

on  the  institution  all  the  powers  and  privileges  of  a  college.  Dr. 
Webster  remained  its  president  for  twenty-one  years  till  July  21, 
1869. 

Percy  R.  Pyne,  Vestryman  1858-1869;  b.  England,  March  8, 
1820;  d.  Rome,  Italy,  Feb.  14,  1895;  s.  Thomas  and  Anna  (Riving- 
ton)  Pyne;  m.  at  St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  March  15,  1855, 
Albertina  Shelton  Taylor.  Was  educated  at  Christ's  Hospital 
School,  England,  and  after  graduation  became  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Moses  Taylor  &  Co.  from  1841  to  1891.  He  was  president 
of  the  National  City  Bank,  vice-president  of  the  D.  L.  &  W.  R.  R. 
Co.,  director  of  the  Farmers'  Loan  &  Trust  Co.,  the  Lackawanna 
Iron  &  Coal  Co.,  the  Consolidated  Gas  Co.,  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Co.,  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  R.  R.  Co.,  the  Central 
Trust  Co.,  and  the  New  Jersey  Zinc  Co.  Was  vice-president  of  St. 
Luke's  Hospital,  trustee  American  Museum  of  Natural  History, 
trustee  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  etc. 

William  A.  Haines,  Vestryman  1860-1871;  b.  Elizabeth,  N.  J., 
Oct.  21,  1822;  d.  Palatka,  Fla.,  March  5,  1880;  buried  from  St. 
George's;  s.  Richard  Townley  and  Maria  W.  (Johnson)  Haines;  m. 
N.  Y.  City,  Feb.  19,  1845,  Emily  Somers  Stagg,  daughter  of  John  P. 
Stagg;  ed.  at  Williamstown,  Mass.,  and  University  of  New  Y^'ork. 
Senior  partner  of  Halsted,  Haines  &  Co.,  dry-goods  merchants,  until 
his  death,  1880.  Connected  with  many  of  the  Church  and  charitable 
institutions  of  his  day;  also  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Academy  of  Sciences,  trustee  of  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co.,  etc. 
The  originator  and  one  of  the  incorporators  and  trustees  of  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History  and  chairman  of  its  Executive 
Committee  until  his  death.  One  of  the  leading  conchologists  of  the 
world,  his  collections  of  shells  being  the  largest  private  collection 
in  this  country. 

Gideon  Pott,  Vestryman  1860-1862;  b.  N.  Y^  City,  Dec,  1818; 
d.  North  Hatley,  Canada,  Aug.  7,  1897;  s.  Gideon  and  Margaret 
(Saidler)  Pott;  m.  St.  George's  Church,  Feb.  9,  1854,  to  Katharine 
Augusta  Newbold  Le  Roy.  Was  educated  in  N.  Y,  City  and  engaged 
in  the  brokerage  business. 

George  Crary  Satterlee,  Vestryman  1862-1872;  b.  Ballston, 
N.  Y.,  Nov.  10,  1799 ;  d.  Bar  Harbor,  Me.,  Aug.  7,  1872 ;  s.  Samuel 
and  Prudence  (Rathbone)  Satterlee;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  March  19,  1833, 


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PERCY    R.    PYNE 


WILLIAM 

:  A. 

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V 

GIDEON    POTT 


GEORGE    C.    SATTERLEE 


WILLIAM    L.    JENKINS 


WILLIAM    ALEX.    SMITH 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  447 

Mary  Le  Roy  Livingston,  daughter  of  Daniel  Livingston,  of  Oakhill 
Manor-on-the-Hudson.  Was  educated  at  Ballston,  N.  Y.,  and  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  came  to  the  city,  and  went  into  the  business  of  his 
brothers  Samuel  and  John  R.  Satterlee,  importers  of  dry-goods.  In 
1850  he  organized  the  Washington  Fire  Insurance  Co.  and  remained 
its  president  until  his  death. 

William  L.  Jenkins,  Vestryman  1863-1868;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Oct. 
9,  1806;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Sept.  26,  1903;  s.  Silvanus  and  Hannah 
Jenkins;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  March  11,  1839,  Esther  F.  Shotwell.  Was 
educated  in  this  city  and  was  president  of  the  ' '  Bank  of  America. ' ' 
An  incorporator  and  treasurer  of  the  New  York  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children.  Member  of  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art,  New  York  Geographical  Society,  and  New  York 
Historical  Society. 

William  Alexander  Smith,  Vestryman  1865-1868 ;  b.  Pottstown, 
Pa.,  Sept.  9,  1820;  d.  May  31,  1911,  Nyack,  N.  Y.;  s.  Robert  Hobart 
and  Mary  (Potts)  Smith;  m.  1st  in  Pennsylvania,  Nora  Mary,  d. 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Levi  Bull ;  2d  Feb.  3,  1863,  Margaret  Jones,  d.  of  George 
Jones.  His  education  was  obtained  at  private  schools  in  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  and  Princeton,  N.  J. ;  entered  the  banking  and  broker- 
age business,  from  which  he  retired  in  1897.  He  was  president 
of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  from  1866  to  1867  and  was  a 
member  of  that  body  for  more  than  sixty  years.  Was  treasurer 
of  the  Parochial  Fund  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  an  incorporator 
of  the  Sheltering  Arms,  and  a  vice-president  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital. 

WiLLLiM  TiLDEN  Blodgett,  Vestryman  1866-1876;  b.  N.  Y.  State; 
d.  N.  Y.  City,  Nov.  4,  1875.  Came  to  N.  Y.  City  in  1838  and  was  a 
well-known  merchant,  and  prominent  in  the  public  life  of  this  city. 
Was  a  trustee  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History  and 
was  one  of  the  foremost  in  establishing  it.  Also  an  organizer  of  the 
Union  League  Club ;  one  of  the  main  figures  of  the  great  Sanitary 
Fair  during  the  Civil  War.  In  his  love  of  art  and  intense  devotion 
to  it  he  was  most  prominent.  He  was  a  founder  of  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art,  the  first  chairman  of  its  Executive  Committee,  and 
subsequently  its  first  vice-president.  Its  Bulletin  of  Feb.,  1906, 
says: 

It  is  not  only  for  his  work  in  the  Museum  that  the  cause  of  American 
Art  is  under  lasting  obligations  to  Mr.  Blodgett.  With  few  advantages 
for  early  education  and  no  youthful  associations  to  direct  his  attention  to 
pictures,  his  own  natural  refinement  and  keen  perception  of  the  beautiful 


448  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

induced  him  to  cultivate  their  study;  and  when  Providence,  which  does 
not  always  see  fit  to  add  to  a  taste  for  such  pursuits  the  means  of  its 
gratification,  was  pleased  to  give  him  wealth  he  found  its  most  delightful 
employment  in  the  encouragement  of  Art. 

David  Dows,  Vestryman  1868-1873 ;  Warden  1873-1890 ;  b.  Charl- 
ton, Saratoga  County,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  16,  1814;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  March 
30,  1890;  s.  Eleazar  and  Linda  (Wright)  Dows;  m.  N.  Y.  City, 
Feb.  5,  1852,  Margaret  Esther,  daughter  of  Horatio  Worcester; 
ed.  in  public  school  and  from  1832  to  1885  was  a  commission  mer- 
chant in  this  city. 

John  Pieepont  Morgan,  Vestryman  1868-1885;  Warden  1885  to 
date;  b.  Hartford,  Conn.,  April  17,  1837;  s.  Junius  Spencer  and 
Juliet  (Pierpont)  Morgan;  m.  (in  1861^  1st  Amelia  Sturges  (d. 
1862)  and  2d  May  31,  1865,  Frances  Louisa  Tracy,  daughter  of 
Charles  Tracy.  Was  educated  in  Hartford  schools,  the  English 
High  School,  Boston,  and  studied  for  two  years  at  the  University 
of  Gottingen,  Germany.  Began  his  long  and  successful  business 
career  in  banking-house  of  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co.  in  1857;  is  now 
senior  partner  of  Morgan,  Grenfell  &  Co.,  of  London,  and  head  of  the 
firm  of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  successors  to  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co., 
N.  Y.  Distinguished  as  an  art  connoisseur  and  bibliophile.  His 
private  collection  of  books,  manuscripts,  paintings,  and  oh  jets  d'art 
is  priceless,  and  he  has  made  large  and  valuable  gifts  to  the  Metro- 
politan Museum  of  Art,  of  which  he  is  president,  and  to  the  Ameri- 
can Museum  of  Natural  History,  of  which  he  is  vice-president,  and 
to  the  public  library.  Is  much  interested  in  yachting  and  was  for 
three  years  Commodore  of  the  N.  Y.  Yacht  Club  and  built  the 
Columbia  to  defend  the  America's  Cup.  The  affairs  of  St.  George's 
Church  are  to  him  of  prime  importance  and  command  his  constant 
personal  attention.  His  munilicent  gifts  to  the  parish  are  referred 
to  in  the  narrative  as  essential  details  of  St.  George's  history.  His 
benefactions  to  general  educational,  philanthropic,  and  religious 
institutions  have  been  princely  and  many.  Mr.  Morgan  has  been 
a  delegate  from  St.  George's  Church  to  the  Diocesan  Convention 
since  1870  and  a  delegate  to  the  General  Convention  since  1886,  in 
which  body  he  is  a  member  of  a  number  of  the  most  important  com- 
mittees and  commissions.  The  degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  upon 
him  by  Yale  University  in  1908  and  by  Harvard  University  in  1910. 

David  Jay  Ely,  Vestryman  1869-1876;  b.  Lyme,  Conn.,  May  6, 
1816;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Feb.  27,  1877;  s.  Richard  and  Mary   (Peck) 


WrLLIAJI    T.    BLODGKTT 


DAVID    DOWS 


J.    PIERPONT    MORGAN 


DAVID    J.     ELY 


HARVET    SPEXCER 


HENRY    P.    MARSHALL 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  449 

Ely:  m.  Massillon,  Ohio,  1847,  Caroline  Duncan  Wheeler;  ed.  at 
Windsor,  Conn.,  and  other  preparatory  schools;  was  a  successful 
merchant.  Endowed  the  chair  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  Griswold 
College,  Iowa,  with  $20,000,  and  made  large  contributions  to  the 
endowment  of  the  American  Church  Missionary  Society. 

Harvey  Spencer,  Vestryman  1869-1888;  b.  N.  Y.  City  Jan.  20, 
1832;  d.  Bryn  Mawr,  Pa.,  July  15,  1898;  s.  Harvey  and  Fanny 
(Sharpe)  Spencer;  m.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  15,  1855,  Sophia 
Matilda  Edwards.  After  completing  his  education  at  the  Fair- 
child  School,  Flushing,  L.  I.,  he  engaged  in  business  as  a  merchant. 
Was  a  Fellow  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design. 

Henry  P.  Marshall,  Vestryman  1871-1889 ;  b.  Woodbury,  Conn., 
Feb.  17,  1814;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Nov.  17,  1888;  s.  John  Parret  and 
Julia  (Perry)  Marshall;  m.  New  York,  Nov.  18,  1840,  Cornelia  E. 
Conrad.  Was  educated  in  Woodbury,  engaged  in  business  in  New 
York  for  sixteen  years,  and  was  an  officer  in  the  Seamen's  Bank  for 
Savings  from  that  time  until  his  death.  A  trustee  of  the  American 
Tract  Society,  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  for  Seamen;  a 
member  of  the  Bible  Society,  of  the  Prison  Association  and  of  the 
Historical  Society.  In  1838  was  U.  S.  Consul  at  Muscat,  Arabia. 
His  grandfather,  John  Rutgers  Marshall,  was  first  rector  of  St. 
Paul's,  Woodbury,  Conn.,  and  in  his  house,  March  23,  1782,  the 
Convocation  was  held  at  which  Samuel  Seabury  was  nominated  as 
first  Bishop  of  the  American  Church. 

John  Noble  Stearns,  Vestryman  1871-1890 ;  Warden  1890-1907 ; 
b.  Warren  Street,  N.  Y.  City,  Jan.  22,  1831 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  March 
14,  1907;  s.  Henry  Ketchum  and  Sarah  (Cannon)  Stearns;  m.  N.  Y. 
City,  April  26,  1855,  Alice  Anne,  daughter  of  Elisha  Bloomer;  ed. 
N.  Y.  City  at  Trinity  School.  He  was  the  pioneer  silk  manufacturer 
of  America,  and  president  of  the  Stearns  Silk  Manufacturing  Co., 
with  mills  in  many  cities  in  this  country.  A  member  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  president  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Evangelical  Knowledge,  life  member  of  the  American 
Bible  Society,  member  of  the  executive  board  of  the  American 
Tract  Society,  of  the  board  of  managers  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital, 
of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Hospital  for  Ruptured  and  Crippled 
Children,  of  the  Numismatic  and  Archaeological  Society,  founder  of 
St.  Christopher's  Home  in  Dobbs  Ferry,  and  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Christian  Home  for  Intemperate  Men  in  N.  Y.  City 
29 


450  HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

J.  Mason  McJimsey,  Vestryman  1872-1876;  b.  Albany,  N.  Y., 
J  une  21,  1812 ;  d.  Warwick,  N.  Y. 

John  Dunn  Wood,  Vestryman  1873-1886 ;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Oct.  5, 
1837 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Feb.  12,  1900 ;  s.  Ross  Wyman  and  Anna  Wood ; 
m.  N.  Y.  City,  Dec.  10,  1868,  Alice  Riggs  Colgate;  ed.  at  the 
Churchill  School  in  Sing  Sing-on-Hudson  and  Yale  College.  Com- 
menced business  in  East  India  trade,  at  one  time  living  in  Singa- 
pore. Later  he  was  in  the  wool  business  and  in  carpet  manufactur- 
ing, being  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  E.  S.  Higgins  &  Co.  until  he 
retired  from  business  some  years  before  he  died. 

Mason  Young,  Vestryman  1876-1878;  b.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  May 
6,  1838;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  March  29,  1906;  s.  Henry  and  Anne  (Mason) 
Young;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  Dec.  10,  1862,  Louise  Hulburt.  Was  fitted 
for  college  at  Sach's  School,  N.  Y.  City;  traveled  abroad  for  several 
years  after,  studying  in  Berlin,  Rome,  and  Madrid;  entered  Yale 
University  in  1857,  graduating  in  the  class  of  1860 ;  then  entered 
Columbia  College  Law  School.  Was  a  prominent  lawyer.  In  1871 
was  secretary  of  the  Woolsey  Fund  of  Yale  University,  and  member 
of  the  Yale  Corporation  from  1873  to  1884.  Fellow  in  perpetuity 
of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art. 

William  H.  Philips,  Vestryman  1876-1878;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Oct. 
3.  1832 ;  d.  Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  June  30,  1899 ;  s.  Samuel  and 
Eliza  (Soper)  Philips;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  Jan.  9,  1856,  Susan  Eliza- 
beth Dimon.  Educated  at  Rye  Academy,  N.  Y.,  and  engaged  in 
commercial  business  in  N.  Y.  City  from  1850  to  1890.  Treasurer 
of  the  Produce  Exchange ;  president  of  the  Norfolk  Southern  R.  R. 
Co. ;  director  of  the  Shoe  &  Leather  Bank,  N.  Y.  City ;  superintend- 
ent "  Bread  of  Life  "  Mission,  St.  George's  Church. 

Robert  Winthrop,  Vestryman  1876-1877;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Aug. 
]8,  1833;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Nov.  18,  1892;  s.  Thomas  Charles  and 
Georgiana  Maria  (Kane)  Winthrop ;  m.  June  23,  1859,  Kate  W. 
Taylor,  daughter  of  Moses  Taylor^  of  New  York;  ed.  in  private 
schools  in  N.  Y.  State,  afterward  entering  the  banking  business. 
Was  the  founder  of  the  banking-house  of  Robert  Winthrop  &  Co. 

W.  Gayer  Dominick,  Vestryman  1877-1878 ;  b.  Chicago,  111.,  Jan. 
14,  1845;  d.  Quogue,  L.  I.,  Aug.  31,  1895;  s.  William  Francis  and 
Lydia  Gardner  (Wells)  Dominick;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  March  11,  1874, 


JOHN    NOBLE    STEARls'S 


J.    MASON    MCJIMSEY 


JOHN    D.    WOOD 


3IAS0X    YOUNG 


WILLIAM    H.    PHILIPS 


ROBERT    WINTHROP 


BIOGRAPHICAL     SKETCHES  451 

Anne  De  Witt  Marshall.  After  completing  his  education  at  the 
Churchill  Military  Academy,  Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.,  became  the  senior 
partner  of  the  Stock  Exchange  firm  of  Dominick  &  Dickerman. 
Member  of  the  Advisory  Board  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.;  was  actively 
engaged  in  Mission  work  in  St.  George's  East  Side  chapels;  life 
member  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  and  one  of  the  Board 
of  Managers  of  the  Huguenot  Society. 

William  Edmond  Curtis,  Vestryman  1878-1880;  b.  Watertown, 
Litchfield  Co.,  Conn.,  Sept.  28,  1823 ;  d.  at  the  same  place  July  6, 
1880;  s.  Holbrook  and  Elizabeth  (Edmond)  Curtis;  m.  Waterbury, 
Conn.,  Sept.  2,  1851,  Mary  A.  Scovill,  daughter  of  William  Henry 
and  Eunice  (Davies)  Scovill;  ed.  at  Episcopal  Academy,  Cheshire, 
Conn.,  and  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  Conn,  (class  of  1843),  which 
later  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  Was  a 
lawyer  and  member  of  the  Bar  of  N.  Y.  and  Conn.  Judge  of  Su- 
perior Court  in  1871 ;  selected  as  Chief  Judge  in  1876,  which  office 
he  held  at  his  death.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Trinity  College,  Hartford, 
and  connected  with  many  other  institutions;  member  N.  Y,  City 
Board  of  Education  from  1858-1860  and  its  president  to  1865,  and 
rendered  valuable  service  in  the  care  of  the  public  schools;  member 
of  American  Geographical  Society;  vice-president  of  N.  Y.  His- 
torical Society  and  member  of  New  England  Society. 

James  Banks  Reynolds,  M.D.,  Vestryman  1878-1883;  b.  N.  Y. 
City,  April  8,  1833 ;  d.  Eye,  N.  Y. ;  s.  William  E.  and  Anna  (Regan) 
Reynolds;  m.  1st  N.  Y.  City,  Emilie  Van  Buren  in  1864  (died  1872)  ; 
2d  her  sister  in  1874;  ed.  in  N.  Y.  by  private  tutors  and  studied 
abroad.  Took  up  the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  Willard  Parker, 
graduating  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  1856; 
served  regular  term  at  Bellevue  Hospital ;  went  to  Europe  in  1858, 
studying  there  for  two  years.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion 
Dr.  Reynolds  became  assistant  surgeon  of  tlie  71st  Regiment, 
N.  G.  N.  Y.,  which  was  ordered  on  duty  at  the  old  navy -yard,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  Later  on  served  with  this  same  regiment  as  surgeon. 
After  the  war,  resumed  practice  in  New  York  and  became  prominent 
in  the  profession;  was  especially  proficient  in  diseases  of  children 
and  had  much  to  do  with  the  N.  Y.  Foundling  Asylum.  Was  mem- 
ber of  the  N.  Y.  Medical  Society;  Academy  of  Medicine,  N.  Y. ; 
Pathological  Society;  Physicians'  Mutual  Aid  Society;  and  the  N.  y[ 
Obstetrical  Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  founders. 


452  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Theodore  H.  Mead,  Vestryman  1878-1882 ;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Jan.  1, 
1837;  s.  Enoch  M.  and  Elizabeth  Mudge  (Hoe)  Mead;  m.  Dec.  3, 
1863,  Anna  E.,  daughter  of  Lawrence  Johnson,  of  Phila.,  Pa. ;  ed.  at 
home  and  in  common  schools;  entered  the  office  of  R.  Hoe  &  Co., 
printing-press  manufacturers,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  and  for  thirty 
years  was  a  partner  in  that  firm. 

Samuel  Henry  St.  John,  Vestryman  1882-1885 ;  b.  Walton, 
N.  Y.,  July  31,  1814 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  April  29,  1893 ;  s.  John  T.  and 
Mary  (Stockton)  St.  John;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  Sept.  28,  1840,  Emily 
White  Leavens;  ed.  at  schools  in  Walton,  N.  Y.,  and  New  Canaan, 
Conn.  Was  a  merchant  in  Mobile,  Ala,,  and  in  N.  Y.  City,  and 
retired  from  business  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  in  1861. 

William  H.  Schieffelin,  Vestryman  1883-1896;  b.  N.  Y.  City, 
Aug.  20, 1836 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  1895 ;  s.  Samuel  Bradhurst  and  Lucretia 
Schieffelin;  m.  Bedford,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  15,  1863,  Mary  Jay,  daughter 
of  John  Jay.  After  finishing  his  education  at  the  University  of 
N.  Y.  became  senior  partner  in  the  wholesale  drug  firm  of  W.  H. 
Schieffelin  &  Co.,  1865  to  1895.  Served  in  the  Civil  War  during  the 
Peninsular  Campaign  as  Major  in  the  First  N.  Y.  Mounted  Rifles; 
was  a  trustee  of  N.  Y.  Orthopedic  Hospital  and  Dispensary  and  a 
member  of  N.  Y.  Historical  Society. 

Robert  Fulton  Cutting,  Vestryman  1883-1907;  Warden  1907 
to  date;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  June  27,  1852;  s.  Fulton  and  Justine  (Bay- 
ard) Cutting;  m.  1st,  1875,  Nathalie  C.  P.  Schenck,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Noah  Hunt  Schenck,  D.D.  (died  1876)  ;  2d,  1883,  Helen  Suydam. 
Graduated  from  Columbia  University,  class  of  1871,  is  a  financier 
and  interested  in  real  estate ;  pres.  Association  for  Improving  Con- 
dition of  Poor ;  pres.  N.  Y.  Trade  School ;  trustee  Cooper  Institute ; 
trustee  McAuley  Water  Street  Mission;  director  American  Museum 
Natural  History,  etc.  Was  an  organizer  of  the  Citizens'  Union  in 
1897  and  its  president  and  leader  until  Dec,  1908.  He  has  re- 
ceived the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Columbia  University, 
and  has  been  appointed  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments for  the  meeting  of  the  General  Convention  in  New  York 
October,  1913. 

William  H.  Tailer,  Vestryman  1885-1890;  b.  N.  Y.,  June  20, 
1842 ;  d.  Lenox,  Mass.,  July  15,  1905 ;  s.  Edward  Neufville  and  Anne 
Amelia  (Bogert)  Tailer;  m.  St.  Peter's  Church,  Westchester,  Sept. 


\V.    GAYER    DOMINICK 


WILLIAM    E.    CUKTIS 


JAMES    B.    REYNOLDS 


THEODORE    H.    MEAD 


SAMUEL    H.    ST.    JOHN 


WILLIAM    H.    SCHIEFFELIN 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  453 

22,  1868,  Maria  C.  Watson;  ed.   Columbia  Grammar  School  and 
Columbia  University,  N.  Y.    Was  a  merchant. 

Charles  Edward  Tracy,  Vestryman,  1885-1896;  b.  Utica,  N.  Y., 
July  11,  1845;  d.  Colorado  Springs  Jan.  22,  1896;  s,  Charles  and 
Louisa  (Kirkland)  Tracy;  m.  1st  Helen  Dawson,  May,  1878  (died 
Dec,  1878)  ;  2d  April,  1886,  Jenny  Bigelow.  Graduated  from  Col- 
lege of  the  City  of  N.  Y.  (then  free  academy)  in  1865,  spent  eighteen 
months  at  the  University  of  Bonn,  Germany,  and  six  months  in 
Geneva.  Was  a  la\y>'er,  member  of  the  Bar  Association,  and  of  the 
firm  of  Bangs,  Stetson,  Tracy  &  MacVeagle.  Connected  with  Lying- 
in  Hospital  and  Seamen's  Mission. 

Frederic  H.  Betts,  Vestryman  1886-1905;  b.  Newburgh,  N.  Y., 
March  8,  1843 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,*Nov.  11,  1905 ;  s.  Frederic  J.  and  Mary 
(Ward)  Betts;  m.  N.  Y.  City,  Oct.,  1867,  Louise  Holbrook;  Yale 
University  B.A.,  1864,  LL.D.  1901,  Columbia  LL.D.  1866.  En- 
tered the  profession  of  law,  was  counsel  Insurance  Department 
State  of  N.  Y.  1872-1873,  lecturer  Yale  Law  School  1873-1884, 
member  of  Metropolitan  ]\Iuseum  of  Art  and  of  Museum  of  Natural 
History. 

John  King,  Vestryman  1888-1892;  b.  Baltimore,  Md.,  April  24, 
1832;  d.  Beaulieu,  France,  March  17,  1897;  s.  John  and  Hester 
(Stauffer)  King;  m.  Aug.  20,  1867,  Mary  Frances  Jackson;  ed. 
in  Baltimore  and  was  vice-president  of  Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.  and 
president  of  the  Erie  R.  R. 

William  Lanman  Bl^ll,  Vestryman  1889-1895;  b.  N.  Y.  City, 
1845;  s.  Frederic  and  Mary  (Huntington)  Bull;  m.  N.  Y.,  1871, 
Sara  Newton,  daughter  of  Henry  Rossiter  Worthington.  Gradu- 
ated from  the  College  of  City  of  N.  Y.  1865.  Partner  in  Edward 
Sweet  &  Co.,  bankers  and  brokers.  Twice  president  of  N.  Y.  Stock 
Exchange. 

Henry  W.  Munroe,  Vestryman  1890-1893  and  1895  to  date; 
b.  Paris,  France,  Dec.  4,  1859;  s.  John  and  Marian  (Hall)  Munroe; 
m.  Lenox,  Mass.,  Oct.  1,  1885,  Alice  Kneeland;  ed.  partly  in  Ger- 
many and  Harvard  University,  class  1882.  He  is  a  banker.  Treas- 
urer of  the  Cathedral  League  of  the  Diocese  of  N.  Y,  and  of  the 
Church  Club. 

Wager  Swayne,  Vestryman  1890-1899 ;  b.  Columbus,  Ohio,  Nov. 
10,  1834 ;  d.  N.  Y.  City,  Dec.  18,  1902 ;  s.  Noah  Haynes  and  Sarah 


454  HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Ann  (Wager)  Swayne;  m.  Louisville,  Ky.,  Dec.  22,  1868,  Ellen 
Harris ;  prepared  for  college  in  Columbus  and  graduated  from  Yale 
College  in  June,  1856,  and  in  1859  graduated  from  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
Law  School.  In  1859  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  Columbus,  prac- 
ticing there  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  when  he  raised 
the  43d  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  of  which  he  was  commissioned 
Major  Aug.  31,  1861 ;  Colonel  in  1862.  He  took  part  in  the  marches 
and  battles  of  the  Atlanta  campaign,  Sherman's  March  to  the  Sea, 
and  received  a  serious  wound  at  Salkahatchie,  S.  C,  which  resulted 
in  the  loss  of  his  right  leg.  For  conspicuous  gallantry  was  breveted 
Brigadier-General  in  March  and  Major-General  in  June,  1865;  was 
mustered  out  of  service  Sept.  1 ,  1 867 ;  subsequently  served  as  Com- 
missioner of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Alabama;  was  active  in 
organizing  a  common-school  system,  establishing  high  schools  in  the 
more  important  cities  as  well  as  public  schools  and  Talladega  Col- 
lege for  negroes.  In  this  work  he  was  engaged  until  July  1,  1870, 
when,  at  his  own  request,  he  was  placed  upon  the  retired  list  of  the 
regular  army  to  which  he  had  been  transferred,  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  law  at  Toledo,  Ohio.  Kenyon  College  conferred  upon 
him  the  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1879.  In  1880  removed  to  N.  Y.  City, 
where  he  continued  his  legal  practice  until  his  death  on  December 
18,  1902.  He  was  buried  in  Arlington  Cemetery,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Was  president  of  the  American  Cliurch  Missionary  Society  and  a 
director  of  the  American  Tract  Society. 

William  Foulke,  Vestryman  1892  to  date;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  June 
28,  1847;  s.  William  and  Mary  Elizabeth  (Fish)  Foulke;  grandson 
of  Joseph  and  Charlotte  (Brion)  Foulke.  Is  unmarried.  Educated 
in  N.  Y.  City.  Is  trustee  Home  for  the  Destitute  Blind,  vice-presi- 
dent N.  Y.  Dispensary,  treasurer  Washington  Square  Home  for 
Friendless  Girls.  Mr.  Foulke  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society  in  1886,  which  position  he  still  holds,  as  well  as 
that  of  treasurer  of  St.  George's  Church, 

Seth  Low,  LL.D.,  Vestryman  1893  to  date;  b.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
Jan.  18,  1850;  s.  Abiel  Abbott  and  Ellen  Almira  (Dow)  Low; 
m.  Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  9,  1880,  Anne  Wrae  Scollay  Curtis ;  ed. 
Juvenile  High  School  1857-1862,  Polytechnic  Institute  1862-66, 
Columbia  College  class  of  '70.  Clerk  with  A.  A.  Low  &  Bros.,  in 
trade  with  the  Orient  1870-1875,  partner  1875-1888.  Mr.  Low  was 
Mayor  of  Brooklyn  1882-1885,  Mayor  of  New  York  1901-1903 ;  dele- 
gate from  U.  S.  to  first  Conference  of  Peace  at  The  Hague  1899; 


R.    FULTON    CUTTING 


"WILLIAM    IT.    TAILER 


CHARLES    EDWARD    TRACY 


FREDERIC    H.    BETTS 


i-»j*^ 


JOHN    KING 


WILLIAM    LANMAN    BULL 


BIOGRAPHICAL     SKETCHES  455 

president  of  Columbia  University  1890-1901,  and  has  been  president 
of  the  Brooklyn  Bureau  of  Charities,  the  National  Civic  Federa- 
tion, the  Archffiologieal  Society  of  America,  and  the  Geographical 
Society  of  N.  Y.     He  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Amherst 

1889,  University  of  N.  Y.,  University  of  Pa.,  Harvard  and  Trinity 

1890,  Princeton  1896,  Yale  1901. 

William  Jay  Schieffelin,  Vestryman  1896-1906 ;  b.  N.  Y.  City, 
April  14,  1866;  s.  "William  Henry  and  Mary  (Jay)  Schieffelin; 
m.  N.  Y.,  Feb.  5,  1891,  Maria  Louisa  Shepard;  ed.  Trinity  School, 
Tivoli,  Columbia  College  School  of  Mines  1887 ;  Munich  University, 

1889,  Ph.D.     Chemist  for  Schieffelin  &  Co.  1889,  member  of  firm 

1890,  vice-president  of  corporation  1903,  president  1906 ;  trustee 
of  Hampton  Institute,  of  Muskogee  Institute ;  president  of  the  Arm- 
strong Association,  manager  the  American  Bible  Society,  president 
American  Church  Missionary  Society,  Municipal  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission 1896,  captain  and  regimental  adjutant  12th  N.  Y.  Volunteers 
Spanish  War  1898,  president  Citizens'  Union  1908.  Fellow  of  the 
London  Chemical  Society,  member  American  Chemical  Society,  So- 
ciety of  Chemical  Industry. 

Henry  H.  Pike,  Vestryman  1896  to  date;  b.  Halifax,  N.  S.; 
s.  Thomas  William  and  Annie  (Leonard)  Pike;  m.  London,  On- 
tario, Oct.  23,  1883,  Edith  Roe;  ed.  St.  John,  N.  B.  Is  a  West 
India  merchant.  Entered  the  Sunday-school  work  of  St.  George's 
in  1883  and  has  devoted  himself  to  it  with  great  fidelity  and  suc- 
cess. He  became  superintendent  of  the  school  in  succession  to  Mr. 
R.  F.  Cutting  in  1890,  which  position  he  still  occupies. 

John  Seely  Ward,  Vestryman  1896  to  date;  b.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
Feb.  20,  1859;  s.  John  Seely  and  Harriet  Sarah  (Foster)  Ward; 
m.  N.  Y.,  Oct.  7,  1885,  Madeline  McLean;  ed.  at  St.  Paul's  School, 
Concord,  N.  H. ;  Columbia  College,  class  1882 ;  Columbia  Law 
School,  class  1883.  Is  a  lawyer.  Vice-pres.  N.  Y.  Juvenile  Asylum, 
vice-pres.  Association  for  Improving  Condition  of  Poor,  treasurer 
Prison  Association  of  N.  Y.,  trustee  or  director  of  Seaman's  Church 
Institute,  Society  of  St.  Johnland,  etc. 

James  W.  Markoe,  M.D.,  Vestryman  1899  to  date;  b.  N.  Y.,  July 
19,  1862;  s.  Thomas  M.  and  Charlotte  A.  (How)  Markoe;  m.  Nov. 
22,  1894,  Mrs.  Annette  Butler  Wetmore;  ed.  St.  Paul's  School;  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  1885;  Frauenklink,  Munich,  1887. 


456  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Has  been  in  practice  since  1889,  medical  director  and  attending- 
surgeon  to  Lying-in  Hospital  since  1890,  and  has  been  house  surgeon, 
resident  surgeon,  first  resident  physician,  and  attending  physician 
of  other  well-known  hospitals. 

Charles  S.  Brown,  Vestryman  1905  to  date;  b.  March  19,  1851^ 
N.  Y.  City;  s.  Lewis  B.  and  Emma  (Manning)  Brown;  m.  N.  Y. 
City,  June  3,  1880,  Lucy  N.  Barnes.  After  finishing  his  education 
in  the  College  of  the  City  of  N.  Y.  entered  the  real  estate  business. 
Mr.  Brown  is  a  Governor  of  the  New  Y^ork  Hospital. 

Joseph  Wright  Harriman,  Vestryman  Jan.  8,  1907,  to  date^ 
b.  Belleville,  N.  J.,  Jan.  31,  1867;  s.  Juo.  Neilson  and  Elizabeth 
Grange  (Hancox)  Harriman;  m.  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  Nov.  21,  1891, 
Augusta  Barney;  ed.  at  Charlier  Institute,  N.  Y.,  and  Stevens  In- 
stitute, Hoboken,  N.  J.  Entered  the  banking  business  U.  S.  Na- 
tional Bank,  N.  Y''.  City,  1884-1894;  Merchants'  National  Bank, 
1894—1902 ;  Harriman  &  Co.,  Bankers,  1902.  President  of  Harriman 
National  Bank;  president  of  trustees  Cheshire  School,  Cheshire, 
Conn. 

William  Edmond  Curtis,  Vestryman  1907  to  date ;  b.  N.  Y.  City, 
June  2,  1855;  s.  William  Edmond  and  Mary  Ann  (Scovill)  Curtis; 
ed.  Columbia  Grammar  School;  Watertown  Academy;  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Hartford,  Conn. ;  Columbia  College  Law  School.  Is  a  lawyer 
and  unmarried;  trustee  of  Trinity  College,  from  which  he  received 
the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1902 ;  member  of  Managing  Board 
N.  Y.  Throat,  Nose,  and  Lung  Hospital ;  life  member  N.  Y.  Historical 
Society  and  American  Geographical  Society,  and  chairman  of  the 
Co-operating  Committee  of  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement  of  the 
Diocese  of  New  Y^'ork.  He  was  assistant  secretary,  U.  S.  Treasury, 
3893-1897  and  member  of  N.  Y.  Aqueduct  Commission  1902-1905. 

ASSISTANT     MINISTEES 

Rev.  John  Brady,  First  Assistant  Minister  of  St.  George's  1811- 
1816 ;  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bp.  Hobart  in  1811,  serving  before 
the  first  rector  was  called,  and  continuing  as  Dr.  Kewley's  assistant. 
Was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  Bp.  Hobart  in  St.  George's  in 
1812.  His  first  wife  died  in  Jan.,  1815,  and  a  year  later  he  was 
married  by  the  bishop  in  St.  George's  Church,  Jan.  23,  1816,  to  Mrs. 
Hannah  Reynolds,  who  survived  him.    Died  Sept.  22,  1822 ;  rector 


HEXRY    W.    HON  ROE 


WAGER    SWAYNE 


WILLIAM    FOULKE 


SETH    LOW 


WILLIAM    JAY    SCHIEFFELIN 


IT.    H.    PIKE 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  457 

of   William    and   Mary    and    St.    Andrew's   parishes,    St.    Mary's 
County,  Md. 

Rev.  J.  W.  Cooke,  Assistant  Minister  1835-1843 ;  was  a  native 
of  Rhode  Island;  graduated  at  Brown  University  and  the  General 
Theological  Seminary;  ordained  by  Bishop  Griswold;  officiated  at 
Lonsdale,  R.  I. ;  assistant  to  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor  in  St.  George 's ;  Rector 
of  St.  Michael's,  Bristol,  R.  I.;  and  was  appointed,  1850,  Secretary 
and  General  Agent  of  the  Committee  for  Foreign  Missions.  In 
March,  1853,  he  sailed  for  AspinwaU  to  examine  that  place,  and 
Panama  with  a  view  to  Missionary  operations.  While  on  the  Isthmus 
he  was  attacked  with  dysentery  and  obliged  to  return,  and  died  in 
New  York  April  12,  1853. 

Rev.  Pierre  Paris  Irving  ;  b.  New  York ;  graduated  from  Colum- 
bia College  1824;  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  In  1836  was  ad- 
mitted to  Holy  Orders.  His  first  charge  was  Trinity,  Geneva,  N.  Y. 
He  then  became  Secretary  of  the  Foreign  Committee  of  the  Board 
of  Missions.  His  service  in  St.  George's  was  begun  in  1843  and  con- 
tinued as  occasion  served  till  the  close  of  Dr.  Milnor 's  life.  In  1849 
he  accepted  the  rectorship  of  Christ  Church,  New  Brighton,  which 
he  held  for  twenty-six  years.    Died  Sept.  10,  1878,  aged  seventy-two. 

Rev.  Dudley  Atkins  Tyng,  b.  Prince  George's  Co.,  Md.,  Jan. 
14,  1825;  ed.  University  of  Pennsylvania  1839-1843;  Alexandria 
Seminary,  1846 ;  deacon  by  Bp.  Meade,  July  9,  1846 ;  Assistant  Min- 
ister St.  George's,  1846;  Rector  successively  Charlestown,  Va. ; 
Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Church  of  Epiphany,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Church 
of  the  Covenant,  Philadelphia.    Died  April  19,  1858. 

Rev.  William  Yorke  Rooker,  ordered  deacon  by  Bp.  Moore  of 
Va.,  July  18,  1841,  in  St.  George's  Ch.,  Fredericksburg;  assisted 
Dr.  Tyng  in  1847-8.    Later  left  the  country. 

Rev.  Calvin  C.  Wolcott,  b.  Williamsburg,  Mass.,  April  27,  1787 ; 
d.  N.  Y.  City,  Jan.  21,  1861 ;  m.  Danvers,  Mass.,  Sept.  4,  1811,  Sally 
Garchier;  ed.  Phillips'  Academy,  Andover,  Mass.,  Aug.,  1809-11; 
theological  studies  with  Rev.  S.  H.  Tyng  under  direction  of  Bp. 
A.  V.  Griswold,  by  whom  he  was  ordained  in  1818.  First  parish, 
Hanover,  Mass.,  from  1818-1834 ;  Rector  Christ  Ch.,  Quincy,  Mass. ; 
Agt.  Am.  Bible  Society  (owing  to  ill  health  and  needing  open-air 
exercise)  1828-9.    Dee.  12,  1850,  called  (while  at  Winchester,  Va.) 


458  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

to  be  assistant  minister  of  St.  George's.    Resigned  in  1859.    Funeral 
at  St.  George's  conducted  by  Dr.  Tyng. 

Rev.  Norman  W.  Camp,  deacon,  Sept.  18,  1839,  by  Bp.  Hopkins ; 
Assistant  in  St.  George's,  1853. 

Rev.  Heman  Dyer,  D.D.  ;  b.  at  Shaftsbury,  Vt.,  Sept.  24,  1810 ; 
d.  July  29,  1900;  ed.  Kenyon  College,  A.B.,  1833;  Deacon  1835  and 
Priest  1836  by  Bp.  Mcllvaine.  For  some  years  missionary  in  Ohio ; 
principal  of  classical  school  for  boys  at  Pittsburgh  1840-1843,  pro- 
fessor of  Western  University  of  Pennsylvania  1843-1844,  and  presi- 
dent of  same  1844-1849 ;  clerical  representative  of  the  American 
Sunday  School  Union  1849-1854;  rector  Church  of  the  Saviour, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.;  curate  St.  George's  1854-1859  and  Sept.,  1862,  to 
June,  1863,  and  at  Church  of  the  Ascension,  New  York,  1864-1885 ; 
corresponding  secretary  and  general  agent  of  the  Evangelical 
Knowledge  Society  1854r-1900 ;  corresponding  secretary  of  the 
American  Church  Missionary  Society;  member  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  1868-1900;  trustee  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary, 
of  the  American  Church  Building  Fund  Commission,  and  of  St. 
Luke's  Hospital;  actively  connected  with  the  Philadelphia  Divinity 
School,  the  Church  Congress,  and  many  other  Church  institutions; 
member  of  the  Indian,  Freedmen's,  and  Mexican  Commissions  of 
the  General  Convention ;  author  of  The  Voice  of  the  Lord  upon  the 
Waters,  The  Records  of  an  Active  Life,  etc. ;  for  many  years  editor 
of  The  Parish  Visitor  and  of  The  Episcopal  Quarterly  Review.  In 
1862  he  declined  to  accept  his  election  as  Bishop  of  Kansas.  He 
died  in  his  ninetieth  year,  leaving  an  enviable  record  of  notable 
personal  influence  and  singular  efficiency. 

Rev.  Wilbur  Fisk  Paddock,  D.D. ;  b.  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  Nov. 
27,  1831 ;  d.  June  11,  1903,  Denver,  Col. ;  ed.  Hamilton  College  1853 
(degrees  of  B.A.,  M.A.,  D.D.)  and  Alexandria  Theological  Semi- 
nary; deacon,  July  1,  1859,  by  Bp.  Meade;  priest  in  following  year; 
m.  Phila.,  1871,  Mary  L.  Badger.  Held  clerical  positions  at  St. 
George's,  New  York,  as  assistant  1859-60;  Rector  St.  Paul's,  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  1860-63  and  St.  Andrew's,  Phila.,  1863-1901. 

Rev.  Cornelius  Winter  Bolton;  b.  Bath,  Eng.,  June  3,  1819; 
d.  Pelham,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  28,  1906;  m.  Greenbush,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  11, 
1856,  Cornelia  Van  Rensselaer;  ed.  Theological  Seminary,  Alex- 
andria, Va. ;  deacon  March  21,  1847,  by  Bp.  Johns  of  Va. ;  priest 


JOHN    SEELT    WAKD 


JAMES    W.    MARKOE 


CHARLES    S.    BROWK 


JOSEPH    WRIGHT    HARRIMAN 


WILLIAM    EDMOXD    CURTIS 


BIOGRAPHICAL     SKETCHES  459 

April  16, 1848 ;  Rector  Church  of  the  Redeemer,  Pelham,  1847-1850  ; 
Christ  Church,  Baltimore,  1850-1855,  and  Church  of  Mediator, 
South  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  1855-1859;  Assistant  Minister  St.  George's 
1859-1865.  After  serving  St.  Mark's,  Newcastle,  N.  Y.,  St.  John's, 
Pleasantville,  N.  Y.,  and  Calvary,  Round  Hill,  Conn.,  he  returned 
to  his  old  church  in  Pelham,  1880,  in  which  he  served  until  his  death. 

Rev.  James  Edv^ard  Homans;  b.  May  21,  1833,  Chittenango,  N. 
Y. ;  d.  Manhasset,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  2,  1882 ;  m.  N.  Y.,  Nov.  12,  1861,  Susan 
Maria  Tyng,  d.  of  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng;  ed.  Kenyon  College;  A.B.  1857, 
A.M.  1860.  Member  Evangelical  Knowledge  Society;  American 
Bible  Society.  Asst.  Minister  of  St.  George's  July,  1860,  to  May, 
1861 ;  previously  connected  with  the  parish  from  1845-1855  as 
scholar  and  teacher  in  the  Sunday-school.  First  person  baptized 
in  Church  edifice  on  Stuyvesant  Square,  April  5,  1849;  Rector,  Rah- 
way,  N.  J.;  St.  John's  Church,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Mediator,  N.  Y. 
City;  Christ  Ch.,  Manhasset,  L.  I. 

Rev.  Charles  Schramm,  Ph.D.,  D.D. ;  b.  Westphalia,  Germany, 
March  11,  1810;  d.  Nordhausen  Oct.  17,  1888;  m.  Ida  Johana  Burg- 
graf,  Grandenz,  Germany,  1840.  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  Theology, 
and  Philology.  Deacon  March  6,  1859,  by  Bp.  H.  Potter ;  in  charge 
St.  George's  Chapel  1859  (German,  East  Fourteenth  Street),  till 
1868,  when  he  took  work  in  the  West ;  about  1875  returned  to  Ger- 
many, where  he  died. 

Rev.  Stephen  Higginson  Tyng,  Jr.,  D.D. ;  b.  Phila.  June  28, 
1839 ;  d.  Paris  Nov.  17,  1898 ;  m.  Ch.  of  the  Ascension,  N.  Y.,  Dec. 
16,  1863,  Frances  R.  Tappan;  graduate  of  Williams  College  1858 
from  which  later  received  Doctorate  of  Divinity ;  Theological  Semi- 
nary of  Va. ;  deacon  May  8,  1861;  priest  Sept.  11,  1863;  assistant 
minister  of  St.  George's  1861-1862;  rector  of  the  Mediator,  N.  Y., 
from  1862-64;  founder  and  rector  of  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
N.  Y.  City,  1865-1881.  Sometime  chaplain  of  12th  New  York  Vol- 
unteers ;  editor  of  The  Working  Church  and  the  Christian  at  Work. 
Author  of  The  Square  of  Life,  1876 ;  He  will  Come,  1877 ;  The  Peo- 
ple's Pulpit,  1877.  Resided  in  Paris,  engaged  in  life-insurance  busi- 
ness until  his  death  in  1898. 

Rev.  William  T.  Sabine,  D.D.;  b.  Oct.  16,  1838,  N.  Y.  City; 
m.  N.  Y.  City,  1868,  Maria  Therese  Schieffelin;  ed.  at  the  Thayer 
School;  Columbia  College,  class  '59;  General  Theological  Seminary, 


460  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

N.  Y. ;  New  York  University,  D.D. ;  Deacon,  Bp.  H.  Potter,  1862 ; 
Rector  of  Church  of  the  Covenant,  Phila.,  Pa. ;  assistant  minister  of 
St.  George's,  June  to  Oct.,  1863;  Rector  Church  of  the  Atonement, 
N.  Y.,  1866-72 ;  deposed,  1875  ;  pastor  First  Ref .  Epis.  Church,  N.  Y. 
City,  1874-1905;  Bishop  N.  Y.  &  Phila.  Synod,  Ref.  Epis.  Church 
1902. 

Rev.  Tapping  R.  Chipman;  b.  Middlebury,  Vt.,  Feb.  9,  1811;  d. 
White  Plains,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  1,  1865.  Graduated  at  General  Theological 
Seminary  in  1838 ;  officiated  in  Brockport,  Leroy,  and  East  Bloom- 
field,  W.  N.  Y. ;  Astoria,  N.  Y. ;  Christ  Church,  Detroit,  Mich. ;  was 
Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Reconciliation,  N.  Y.  City;  assistant 
minister  in  St.  George's  Parish  from  Feb.  1  to  Nov.  1,  1864. 

Rev.  Uriah  Tracy  Tracy,  Deacon  by  Bp.  H.  Potter,  June  2,  1859 ; 
priest  I860;  assistant  Church  of  the  Ascension,  N.  Y.,  1859-60; 
rector,  Bay  Ridge,  N.  Y.,  1860-65 ;  assistant  to  Dr.  Tyng  from  Feb. 
to  Aug.  1865;  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Yonkers,  1866  to- 1869; 
assistant  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  teacher  in  House  of  Evan- 
gelists, established  by  that  Church,  1869-71 ;  Rector  Church  of 
Reformation  and  Epiphany,  N.  Y.  City.  He  also  did  missionary 
work  in  New  Mexico  and  in  Long  Island,  and  from  1898-1907  was 
Chaplain  of  the  Church  Charity  Foundation,  Brooklyn. 

Rev.  Brockholst  Morgan  ;  b.  N.  Y.  City.,  Dec.  26,  1843 ;  m.  New 
York,  Sept.  10,  1865,  Mary  Rutgers,  educated  in  France,  Germany, 
and  England;  "  Divinity  Scholar  "  and  "  Prize  Man,"  King's  Col- 
lege, London;  also  "  As.sociate  of  King's  College  "  and  "  Associate 
in  Arts,"  Oxford  University.  Chaplain  for  ten  years  of  the  "  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,"  N.  Y.  State.  Assistant  ndnister  of  St.  George's 
Aug.  1,  1865  to  1866;  rector  of  St.  Stephen's,  Millburn,  N.  J.,  1867; 
of  St.  Mark's,  Chicago,  111.,  1872;  of  St.  Peter's,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y., 
1879 ;  assistant  minister  St.  Mark's,  N.  Y.  City,  1879  to  1889 ;  super- 
intendent N.  Y.  City  Mission  Society  1889-1899 ;  assistant  minister 
St.  John's,  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  1901-19il. 

Rev.  Christopher  S.  Stephenson;  b.  in  Bermuda;  ordained  in 
this  country  July  10,  1864,  by  Bp.  H.  Potter.  In  charge  of  St. 
George's  Mission  Chapel  Dec.  21,  1865,  to  May,  1871. 

Right  Rev.  William  Neilson  McVickar,  D.D.,  LL.D. ;  b.  N. 
Y.  City,  Oct.  19, 1843 ;  d.  June  28,  1910,  Pride's  Crossing,  Mass.    Un- 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  461 

married.  Educated  in  private  schools;  Columbia  College  (A.B, 
1865),  Phila.  Divinity  School,  and  General  Theological  Seminary; 
deacon  Feb.  10,  1867,  by  Bp.  H.  Potter;  priest  July,  1868.  Received 
honorary  degrees,  D.D.,  Kenyon,  1885 ;  Univ.  of  Pa.,  1888 ;  Columbia, 
1898,  LL.D. ;  Brown  Univ.,  1904.  Assistant  minister  of  St.  George's 
1867  to  1868 ;  rector  of  Holy  Trinity,  Harlem,  N.  Y.,  from  1868  to 
1875 ;  rector  of  Holy  Trinity,  Phila.,  Pa.,  1875  to  1898 ;  Bp.  Coadj. 
of  Rhode  Island,  Jan.  27,  1898 ;  Bishop  Sept.  7,  1903-1910. 

Rev.  Morris  Ashurst  Tyng;  ed.  private  schools  in  New  York 
City,  Williams  College,  A.B.,  1861 ;  was  ordained  deacon  Nov.  13, 
1868,  by  Bp.  H.  Potter,  and  became  assistant  in  St.  George's  Nov., 
1868,  to  Sept.  20,  1870,  when  he  left  to  assume  duties  of  the  pro- 
fessorship in  Gambler  to  which  he  had  been  appointed.  He  was 
deposed  from  the  ministry  in  1880,  and  has  since  followed  the  pro- 
fession of  law. 

Rev.  J.  C.  Fleischhacker  ;  b.  in  Germany  in  1829;  d.  of  pneu- 
monia, N.  Y.  City,  Feb.  15,  1886,  Educated  for  the  ministry,  spent 
several  years  in  preaching  in  his  own  country,  after  which  he  went 
to  Jerusalem,  and  was  there  with  Bishop  Gobat  for  nine  years,  de- 
voting his  time  to  missionary  work.  Came  to  this  country  and  was 
for  nine  years  assistant  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng  in  the  German  Mission 
Chapel  work,  April  18,  1869,  to  May,  1878.  For  the  next  few  years 
he  held  no  regular  position,  but  devoted  his  labors  to  missionary 
work  among  the  people  of  his  own  nationality,  and  also  assisted  the 
Rev.  IVIr.  French  in  his  labors  on  Blackwell's  Island. 

Rev.  Joseph  Eastburn  Brown;  b.  Nov.  7,  1833,  at  Phila.,  Pa.; 
m.  Grace  Ch.,  Phila.,  Pa.,  June  7,  1864,  Rose  A.  Clanges.  Was 
educated  at  Phila.  Divinity  School  and  Theological  Seminary,  Va., 
and  ordained  Deacon  Oct.  15,  1863,  by  Bp.  A.  Potter;  assistant 
minister  of  St.  George's  June  1,  1871,  to  Dec,  1874,  with  duty  at 
the  Chapel  of  Free  Grace;  connected  himself  with  the  Reformed 
Epis.  Ch.  and  was  deposed  in  1875.  Was  rector  Grace  Ch.,  George- 
town, D.  C,  and  is  now  rector  of  St.  Paul's  R.  E.  Church,  Moncton, 
N.  B.,  Canada. 

Rev.  John  Crockar  White  ;  b.  White  Plains,  N.  Y.,  Oct.,  1833 ; 
ed.  at  Phila.  Divinity  School,  1858-1860.  Deacon  Sept.  16,  1858,  by 
Bp.  Bowman  of  Pa.;  was  assistant  in  St.  George's  from  May  to 
Nov.,  1871 ;  served  in  Grace  Church,  Phila. ;  Christ  Church,  Dover, 


462  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Delaware;  St.  Paul's,  Newburyport,  Mass;  St.  John's,  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  1872-1882;  and  was  rector  of  St.  Andrew's,  Pittsburgh,  1882- 
1907.    Died  April  23,  1908. 

Eev.  Nathaniel  Ellsworth  Cornwall  ;  b.  Fairfield,  Conn.,  Aug. 
5,  1842 ;  m.  Aug.  3,  1882,  Emily  Meeker  Cady ;  ed.  Columbia  College, 
A.B.  1862,  M.A.  1865;  taught  a  private  school  in  N.  Y.  City  in 
1863-1882;  assistant  St.  George's  1871 ;  assistant  Church  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  N.  Y.  City,  1871-1875 ;  Christ  Church,  Bay  Ridge,  N. 
Y.,  1876-1880 ;  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  N.  Y.  City,  1881-1883 ;  Holy 
Trinity,  Harlem,  1883-1886;  Eector  of  St.  Paul's,  Medina,  Ohio, 
1886-1888;  AU  Saints',  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1888-1892;  Christ  Church, 
Stratford,  Conn.,  1892.  He  was  chaplain  of  the  Conn.  Society  Sons 
of  the  Revolution  1895-1897,  and  president  Conn.  Alumni  Associa- 
tion of  Columbia  University  1907. 

Rev.  Matson  Meier-Smith,  D.D.;  b.  New  York  State,  1826;  d. 
Philadelphia  March  26,  1887 ;  ed.  Columbia  College  and  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  After  serving  in  the  Presbyterian  Ministry  was 
convinced  of  the  superior  claims  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  was 
ordained  by  Bp.  Eastburn.  Rector  St.  John's,  Hartford,  Conn.,  and 
of  Trinity  Church,  Newark,  N.  J.  Subsequently  filled  chair  of 
Pastoral  Theology  in  Philadelphia  Divinity  School  for  fifteen  years ; 
funeral  in  St.  James'  Church,  Philadelphia,  March  29,  1887. 

Rev.  Edward  W.  Peet,  D.D.;  b.  Feb.  19,  1804;  Bridgeport, 
Conn. ;  d.  Aug.  17,  1882,  Cromwell,  Conn. ;  m.  Sarah  Creighton, 
daughter  of  Hon.  William  Creighton,  of  ChiUicothe,  Ohio,  June  30, 
1834.  Educated  at  Yale  College  and  General  Theological  Seminary, 
N.  Y. ;  deacon  by  Bishop  Brownell  in  Bridgeport,  Sept.  2,  1827 ; 
priest  by  Bishop  Moore  in  Richmond,  Va.,  Dec.  25,  1828.  Received 
degree  of  D.D.  from  Kenyon  College  in  1859.  "Was  assistant  min- 
ister of  St.  George's,  March,  1873-1879.  From  1827  to  1828  he 
engaged  in  ministerial  duties  in  King  George  County,  Va.,  and  from 
1830  to  1833  was  rector  of  St.  John's  Church  in  Richmond  in  that 
State.  From  1838  to  1841  he  was  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 
ChiUicothe,  Ohio.  In  1843  organized  and  became  the  first  rector 
of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Rahway,  N.  J.,  where  he  remained  until  1855, 
when  he  removed  to  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  where  he  founded  St.  Paul's 
Church  in  that  place.  In  1866  he  resigned  Des  Moines  and  accepted 
a  call  to  St.  Paul's,  Holyoke,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  until  Janu- 
ary, 1872. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  463 

Eev.  Robert  Mollan,  Assistant  IMinister  in  St.  George's,  1875; 
had  been  previously  Rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  Cornwall,  N.  Y., 
from  Jan.,  1874,  to  May,  1874. 

Rev.  Axselan  Buchanan  ;  b.  Louisville,  Ky. ;  d.  May  18,  1901. 
Educated  Louisville  schools  and  Alexandria  Theological  Seminary; 
deacon  June  24,  1870;  priest,  1871;  missionary  in  Central  Ky. ; 
Trinity  Church,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1872;  St.  John's,  Bayonne,  N.  J. 
Chapel  of  Free  Grace,  St.  George's  Church,  N.  T.,  Feb.  1,  1876,  to 
May,  1878 ;  Moundsville  and  Wellsburg,  W.  Va. ;  Jamestown,  N.  D. ; 
Knoxville,  Tenn. ;  Hanover  Co.,  Va. ;  St.  Peter's,  Louisville,  Ky. 

Rev.  J.  Rice  Taylor;  b.  Cambria,  N.  Y.,  in  1818;  d.  Saugatuck, 
Mich.,  June  19,  1900.  Graduated  from  Kenj^on  College  in  1842; 
studied  at  General  Theological  Seminary  and  at  Gambler;  ordained 
to  the  diaconate  Aug.  24,  1844,  by  Bp.  ]\lcllvaine  and  priest  in 
1856.  Ministered  consecutively  at  Milan,  Ohio ;  Newport,  Ky. ;  Mt. 
Vernon,  Ohio;  Allegan,  Mich.;  St.  Paul's  Mission,  East  Cleveland; 
Grand  Haven,  Mich.;  Holland,  Mich.;  St.  George's  Chapel,  New 
York,  from  Nov.,  1878,  to  May,  1879 ;  Atlantic  City,  N.  J. ;  Poultney, 
Vt. ;  Grand  Rapids,  Mich;  and  St.  Barnabas'  Chapel,  New  York. 
From  1890  until  his  death  h^  lived  in  retirement  at  Saugatuck, 
Mich. 

Rev.  Joshua  Newton  Perkins;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  1840;  m.  St.  Al- 
bans, Vt.,  1868,  Mary  E.  Sowles;  minister  of  Emmanuel  Church, 
Great  River,  1877;  assistant  St.  Ann's,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  1878-1879; 
assistant  minister  of  St.  George's  from  July  1,  1879,  to  Aug.  15, 
1882;  assistant  minister  Church  of  the  Incarnation  1882-1895,  In 
charge  of  Christ  Church,  Bellport,  L.  I.,  1899-1902.  Secretary  of 
American  Church  Building  Fund  Commission  1895  to  date. 

Rev.  Hugh  Maguire  ;  b.  Easky,  Sligo  Co.,  Ireland,  April  26,  1844 ; 
m.  Hanover,  N.  J.,  Maria  Hancock;  ed.  in  Kenyon  College  1871  and 
Union  Theological  Seminarj%  N.  Y.  After  service  as  a  Presbyterian 
minister  he  was  ordered  deacon,  June  4,  1882,  by  Bp.  H.  Potter, 
and  priest,  1883,  by  Bp.  Randolph.  "Was  in  charge  of  St.  George's 
in  1882;  rector  St.  Stephen's,  Baltimore,  Md.,  1883;  Church  of  Our 
Saviour,  Brookhm,  N.  Y.,  1884-1892 ;  missionary  of  N.  Y.  P.  E.  City 
Mission  Society,  1892-1902.    Now  residing  at  Orbisonia,  Pa. 

Rev.  Ralph  L.  Brydges;  b.  Sept.  21,  1856,  Cheltenham,  Glouces- 
tershire, England;  m.  at  Toronto,  Ont.,  Canada,  Oct.  7,  1886,  Flor- 


464  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

ence  C.  Jarvis;  ed.  at  Cheltenham  Grammar  School;  Univ.  of  Tor- 
onto and  Wycliffe  College,  Toronto;  Columbia  Univ.  1897.  Or- 
dained Sept.  25,  1881,  He  served  St.  James'  Cathedral,  Toronto, 
as  curate  1881-83;  was  assistant  in  St.  George's  Church,  N.  Y., 
1883-84;  rector  All  Saints'  Memorial  Church,  Lakewood,  N.  J., 
1885-93;  rector  St.  Mark's  Church,  Islip,  L.  I.,  1893-1908;  assistant 
rector  St.  James'  Church,  N.  Y.  City,  1908-1910;  associate  pastor 
All  Souls'  Anthon  Memorial  Church,  N.  Y.  City,  1911. 

Rev.  E.  F.  Miles,  M.D.  ;  deacon,  Aug.  28,  1881,  by  Bp.  J.  A.  Pad- 
dock; assistant  minister  in  St.  George's,  1883-1884. 

Rev.  Lindsay  Parker;  b.  Dublin,  Ireland,  Dec.  25,  1848;  ed. 
Wesley  an  Connexional  School,  Dublin ;  Belfast,  M.  E.  College ;  New 
York  University,  M.A.,  Ph.D. ;  m.  at  Darien,  Conn.,  Dec.  10,  1874, 
Frances  A.  Reed.  Ordained  deacon  Dec.  9,  1883,  by  Bp.  H.  C. 
Potter  and  priest  1884.  Assistant  at  St.  George's,  1883-1886;  rector 
St.  Peter's  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  from  1886. 

Rev.  Henry  Wilson  ;  b.  Peterborough,  Canada ;  d.  Atlanta,  Ga. ; 
m.  1st  Maggie  Mockridge;  2d  Bessie  Breakenridge,  St.  Thomas' 
Church,  Belleville,  Canada,  1870.  Curate  St.  George's  Cath.,  Kings- 
ton, Canada;  chaplain  to  Archbishop  Lewis  of  Ontario,  Canada; 
curate  St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  1884-1891;  president  Sea- 
men's Association,  New  York;  chaplain  to  Magdalen  House,  New 
York;  field  superintendent  of  the  Christian  and  Missionary  Al- 
liance. 

Right  Rev.  Charles  S gadding,  D.D.  ;  b.  Toronto,  Canada,  Nov. 
25,  1861;  m.  1st  Toronto,  Millie  D.  Donaldson;  2d  Toledo,  Ohio, 
Mary  R.  Pomeroy;  ed.  Trinity  College,  Toronto;  assistant  minister 
at  St.  George's  and  Stanton  Street  Chapel,  1886-1890;  rector  Grace 
Church,  Middletown,  N.  Y.,  1890-1 ;  rector  Trinity  Church,  Toledo, 
Ohio,  1891-1896;  rector  Emmanuel  Church,  La  Grange,  111.,  1896- 
1906;  Bishop  of  Oregon,  consecrated  Sept.  29,  1906. 

Rev.  Wm.  Edgar  Nies  ;  b.  Newark,  N.  J.,  Feb.  18,  1858 ;  m.  N.  Y. 
City,  July  21,  1895,  Marie  T.  R.  Graham ;  Harvard  B.A.,  and  Cam- 
bridge Divinity  School  B.D. ;  deacon,  June  2,  1886,  by  Bp.  B.  H.  Pad- 
dock; priest,  June  5,  1887,  by  Bp.  H.  C.  Potter;  curate  St.  George's 
Church,  1886-1887;  missionary  in  Montana;  missionary  of  Cathedral 
at  Garden  City,  L.  I.;  rector  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Port  Washing- 
ton, L.  I. 


BIOGRAPHICAL     SKETCHES  465 

Eev.  Richard  Eathbone  Graham;  b.  Dublin,  Ireland,  Jan.  26, 
I860;  m.  Providence,  R.  I.,  Oct.  15,  1908,  Isabel  Homer  Pegram; 
ed.  Dublin  Univ.;  B.A.  1882,  M.A.  1887;  assistant,  Kells  and 
Armagh,  Ireland;  assistant  minister  in  St.  George's,  1887-1889;  in 
charge  St.  Paul's,  Poughkeepsie ;  assistant  Christ  Church,  Balti- 
more ;  rector  Good  Shepherd,  Columbus,  Ohio ;  director  associate 
mission,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  rector  St.  John's,  Elkhart,  Ind. ;  rector 
St.  Paul's,  Wickford,  R.  I. 

Rev.  William  T.  Crocker  ;  b.  Sept.  9,  1862,  Fitchburg,  Mass. ; 
Harvard,  1884,  B.A.;  1885  M.A. ;  curate  St.  George's,  1888-1890; 
minister-in-charge  St.  Mary's  for  Sailors,  East  Boston,  Mass.,  1891- 
1903 ;  rector  Epiphany,  N.  Y.,  1903  to  date. 

Rev.  Edward  Campion  Acheson  ;  b.  April  11,  1859 ;  m.  Toronto, 
June  8,  1892,  Eleanor  Goodeham;  ed.  Wyclift'e  CoUege  and  Uni- 
versity College,  Toronto,  and  University  of  N.  Y. ;  curate  All  Saints ', 
Toronto;  St.  George's,  N.  Y.,  1889-1892;  rector  of  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  Middletown,  Conn.,  since  1892. 

Rev.  George  Nattress;  b.  Toronto,  Canada,  April  14,  1856;  m. 
N.  Y.  City,  Nov.  20,  1894,  Fannie  Burchard  Yale ;  B.D.  of  the  Univ. 
of  Trinity  College,  Toronto;  curate  Holy  Trinity  Church,  Toronto; 
assist,  minister  St.  George's,  N.  Y.,  1890;  rector  Church  of  the 
Mediator,  Kingsbridge,  N.  Y. ;  curate  Emmanuel  Church,  Boston; 
rector  St.  Andrew's,  Wellesley,  Mass. 

Rev.  Frank  Elmer  Edwards  ;  b.  near  Columbus,  Ohio ;  ed.  Dart- 
mouth College  and  Cambridge  Divinity  School;  deacon,  Sept.  20, 
1888,  by  Bp.  Dudley;  priest,  Oct.  6,  1889,  by  Bp.  H.  C.  Potter; 
assistant  in  St.  George's  1889-1890. 

Rev.  Theodore  Sedgwick;  b.  Aug.  2,  1863,  Stockbridge,  Mass.; 
m.  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  May  4,  1903,  Mary  Aspinwall  Bend;  Harvard 
B.A. ;  Berkeley  Divinity  School;  deacon,  June  6,  1890,  by  Bp.  B.  H. 
Paddock;  priest,  June  11,  1891,  by  Bp.  John  Williams;  assistant 
St.  George's  1890-1894;  rector  St.  John's,  Williamstown,  Mass., 
1894-1900;  rector  Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  St.  Paul, 
Minn.,  1900-1911 ;  rector  Calvary  Church,  N.  Y.,  1911. 

Rev.  Ernest  de  F.  Miel  ;  b.  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  March  7,  1868 ; 
m.  N.  Y.  City,  June,  1893,  Marion  Scribner,  daughter  of  G.  Hilton 
30 


466  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Scribner;  ed.  Episcopal  Academy,  Phila. ;  Trinity  College,  Hart- 
ford; Univ.  of  Pa.,  Phila.,  B.A.  1888:  Berkeley  Divinity  School, 
Middletown,  Conn. ;  S.T.B.  from  Univ.  of  Pa.,  1891 ;  M.A.,  Univ.  of 
Pa.,  1892.  Assistant  at  St.  George's,  New  York,  1891-1893;  rector 
Trinity  Church,  Hartford,  1893  to-  date. 

Eev.  John  Franklin  Carter;  b.  Orange,  N.  J.,  Oct.  21,  1864 j 
m.  Alice  Schermerhorn  Henry,  Orange,  N.  J.,  June  7,  1893 ;  ed. 
Yale,  B.A.,  1888 ;  Union  Seminary  (two  years)  ;  Cambridge,  Theo- 
logical School,  S.T.B.,  1891 ;  deacon,  Feb.  7,  1892,  by  Bp.  Worthing- 
ton;  priest.  May  28,  1893,  by  Bp.  H.  C.  Potter:  assistant  minister 
St.  George's,  N.  Y.,  1891-1893;  rector  St.  Mark's,  Fall  River,  Mass., 
Nov.,  1893,  to  Aug.,  1900;  rector  St.  John's,  Williamstown,  Mass., 
Sept.,  1900,  to  date. 

Rev.  John  Neher  Lewis,  Jr.  ;  b.  Annandale,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  18,  1869 ; 
m.  St.  George's,  New  York,  June  5,  1894,  Mary  Newell  Stone;  ed. 
public  schools  and  St.  Stephen's  College;  B.A.,  "Williams  College, 
1889 ;  Berkeley  Divinity  School  1892 ;  deacon,  June  8,  1892,  by  Bp. 
"Williams;  priest,  May  24,  1893;  assistant  minister  St.  George's 
Church,  New  Y^ork,  1892-1894;  rector  Grace  Church,  Honesdale, 
Pa.,  1894-1897;  dean  Christ  Church  Cathedral,  Lexington,  Ky., 
1897-1900 ;  deputy  to  General  Convention,  1898 ;  associate  rector 
St,  John's,  "Waterbury,  Conn.;  rector  St.  John's,  "Waterbury,  Conn., 
to  date. 

Rev.  William  Whiting  Davis;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Oct.  7,  1859;  m. 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Sarah  Antoinette  Sprague;  A.M.,  Amherst  College, 
in  1882;  deacon,  Dec.  23,  1883,  and  priest,  Dec.  20,  1885,  by  Bp. 
Littlejohn;  curate  St.  Luke's,  Brooklyn,  1883-5;  rector  St.  Luke's, 
San  Francisco,  Cal.,  1885-1892;  curate  St.  George's,  New  York, 
1892-3 ;  rector  Christ  Church,  East  Orange,  N.  J.,  1893-1906 ;  curate 
Transfiguration,  New  Y^ork,  1906;  rector  Church  of  Redeemer,  New 
Y^ork,  1907 ;  vicar  St.  Mary  the  Virgin,  Chappaqua,  N.  Y^.,  1910  to 
date. 

Rev,  Arthur  Herbert  Locke;  b.  Sept,  25,  1852;  m.  Glen  Falls, 
N.  Y^,,  Sept.  11,  1895,  Mary  Daly ;  ed.  Newton,  Harvard,  1873,  and 
Berlin  M.A. ;  deacon,  Dec.  8,  1876,  by  Bp.  Neely ;  rector  Camden, 
Me.;  assistant  St.  Luke's  Cathedral,  Portland,  Me.;  ministered  in 
Saranac,  N.  Y. ;  St.  George's  Mission,  Stanton  Street,  1893-1894; 
Fort  Edward,  N.  Y. ;  St.  Paul's,  Grand  Rapids;  Trinity,  Hudson, 
Mich.;  and  St.  James',  Grosse  He,  Mich. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  467 

Rev.  John  Robert  Atkinson;  b.  Oct.  21,  1865,  N.  Y.  City;  m. 
Honesdale,  Pa.,  June  16,  1897,  Carlotta  Dorflinger;  ed.  in  public 
and  private  schools,  N.  Y.  City;  St.  Stephen's  College,  B.A.,  1895; 
General  Theological  Seminary,  B.D.,  1893;  deacon.  May  28,  1893, 
by  Bp.  H.  C.  Potter ;  priest,  May  20,  1894;  curate  St.  George's,  1893- 
95;  curate  Christ  Church,  East  Orange,  1895-6;  curate  Calvary 
Church  1896 ;  rector  Trinity  Church,  Elizabeth,  1896-1910. 

Rev.  Frank  H.  Nelson;  b.  Hartford,  Conn.,  Sept.  6,  1869;  m. 
Montclair,  N.  J.,  June  6,  1907,  Mary  Eaton;  ed.  St.  Paul's  School, 
Concord,  N.  H.,  1883-1886;  Hobart  B.A.,  1890;  deacon.  May  19, 
1894,  by  Bp.  Coxe;  priest,  1897,  by  Bp.  H.  C.  Potter;  assistant 
in  St.  George's,  New  York,  1894-1899;  and  Christ  Church,  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  May,  1899,  to  May,  1900 ;  rector  Christ  Church,  Cin- 
cinnati, May,  1900,  to  date. 

Rev.  Arthur  Nelson  Taft;  b.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  23,  1868; 
m.  Oct.  29,  1901,  Amy  Gordon  Torrance;  Williams  College  A.B., 
1890;  Episcopal  Theological  School,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  B.D.,  1894; 
deacon,  June  20,  1894,  by  Bp.  Lawrence;  priest,  June  8,  1895,  by 
Bp.  H.  C.  Potter;  assistant  St.  George's,  New  York,  1894-1900; 
rector  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Colorado  Springs,  1900  to  date. 

Rev.  "Willl\m  H.  Garth  ;  b.  Montreal,  Canada,  Sept.  8,  1868 ;  m. 
in  St.  George's,  N.  Y.  City,  June  1,  1903,  Mrs.  Irene  E.  (Ransom) 
Trask.  Graduate  of  McGill  University,  B.A.,  1889 ;  Montreal  Dio- 
cesan Theological  College,  1891;  assistant  minister  St.  Matthew's, 
Montreal,  1891-4;  assistant  minister  St.  George's,  New  York,  1894— 
8;  rector  Church  of  the  Ascension,  Wakefield,  R.  I.,  1898-1902; 
rector  St.  Michael's,  Naugatuck,  Conn.,  1902-1908;  rector  St. 
Mark's,  Islip,  L.  I.,  1908  to  date. 

Rev.  Alexis  William  Stein  ;  b.  N.  Y.  City,  Aug.  31,  1871;  d. 
Saranac  Lake,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  16,  1910;  m.  in  St.  George's  Church,  N. 
Y.  City,  Jan.  14,  1903,  Mabel  Bonner.  Graduated  at  Columbia 
University,  B.A.,  1891,  and  at  the  General  Theological  Seminary, 
B.D.,  1893 ;  deacon.  May  28,  1893,  by  Bp.  Potter ;  priest,  1897,  by 
Bp.  Capers;  assistant  St.  Peter's  Church,  Baltimore;  assistant  St. 
George's,  New  York,  1895-1898;  rector  Christ  Church,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  Dec,  1898,  to  Feb.,  1900.  Ill  health  compelled  a  stay  in 
Colorado.  Rector,  Lake  Placid,  Oct.,  1902,  to  Oct.,  1903;  became 
again  curate  in  St.  George's,  1903-1904;  rector  Christ  Church,  Fitch- 


468  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

burg,  1904  to  June,  1906.    His  health  again  failing  went  to  Saranac, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  resided  until  his  death  in  1910. 

Eev.  George  Robinson  Hazard  ;  b.  May  14,  1869 ;  ed.  Newport, 
R.  I.,  public  schools;  B.A.,  Brown  University,  1894,  M.A.  1896; 
Cambridge  Theological  School,  B.D.,  1898;  deacon,  1898,  by  Bp. 
McVickar;  priest,  1899,  by  Bp.  Potter;  curate  St.  George's,  1898- 
1900;  vicar  St.  Mark's  Church,  Southborough,  iVIass.,  1900-1905; 
rector  Church  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Mattepan,  Mass.,  1905-1907; 
rector  Grace  Church,  Manchester,  N.  H.,  1907  to  date. 

Rev.  Samuel  Tyler  ;  b.  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  March  11,  1871 ;  Yale, 
B.A.,  1895;  Episcopal  Theological  School,  Cambridge,  B.D.,  1898; 
deacon,  1898,  by  Bishop  Lawrence;  priest,  1900,  by  Bp.  Potter; 
assistant  minister  St.  George's,  New  York,  1898-1901;  rector  Church 
of  the  Advent,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1901,  to  date. 

Rev.  Ezra  Palmer  Gould;  b.  Boston,  Feb.  27,  1841;  d.  White 
Lake,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  22,  1900;  ed.  at  Boston  Latin  School;  Harvard 
University,  graduating  1861.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year  he  en- 
listed in  the  army  and  served  during  the  Civil  War,  his  regiment 
being  mustered  out  July  30,  1865.  In  June,  1868,  entered  the 
Baptist  ministry  and  subsequently  became  Professor  of  Biblical 
Interpretation  at  Newton  Theol.  Seminary,  Mass.  Having  been 
received  into  the  Church  and  ordered  deacon  by  Bp.  Whitaker,  Jan. 
15,  1890  (priest  by  the  same  bishop,  Feb.  18,  1891),  he  was  ap- 
pointed Professor  of  New  Testament  Literature  and  Learning  in  the 
Philadelphia  Divinity  School,  and  held  this  position  until  1898,  when 
he  resigned.  Assistant  minister  in  St.  George's  Church,  New  York, 
from  1899  to  1900. 

Rev.  Holmes  Whitmore  ;  b.  June  21,  1873,  at  Quincy,  111.  Har- 
vard, A.B.,  1895,  A.M.,  1899;  Cambridge  Theological  School,  B.D., 
1898 ;  deacon,  1898,  by  Bp.  Lawrence ;  priest,  1899 ;  assistant  minister 
St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  1899-1902;  rector  Christ  Church, 
Dayton,  Ohio,  1902;  now  rector  of  St.  Paul's,  JMilwaukee,  Wis. 

Rev.  Egisto  Fabbri  Chauncet;  b.  Paris,  Nov.  29,  ]874;  m.  N.  Y. 
City,  April  20,  1904,  Edith  L.  Taft;  ed.  Groton  School,  Harvard 
University,  and  Cambridge  Theological  School;  assistant  minister 
St.  George's,  New  York,  1900-1904;  associate  minister  Church  of 
Holy  Trinity,  Brooklyn,  1904-06;  now  rector  St.  Mark's  Church, 
Mt.  Kisco,  N.  Y. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  469 

Rev.  Philemon  Fowler  Sturges;  b.  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  3,  1875; 
m.  N.  Y.  City,  June  4,  1902,  Maria  Nott  Potter,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Eliphalet  N.  Potter,  by  the  Rev.  W.  S.  Rainsford,  D.D.  Was 
educated  at  Hobart  College;  Yale  University,  B.A.,  1896;  and  the 
Episcopal  Theological  School,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  B.D.,  1900.  Assist- 
ant at  St.  George's  Church,  July  1,  1900,  to  Feb.  1,  1903;  rector 
of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Morristown,  N.  J.,  Feb.  1,  1903,  to  date. 

Rev.  Donald  Mayo  Brookman;  b.  London,  Eng,,  1874;  m.  in 
California,  1903,  Catherine  Yeagell.  Educated  at  Episcopal  Theo- 
logical School,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  B.D.,  1900;  deacon,  1900;  and 
priest,  1901,  by  Bp.  Barker;  assistant  minister  at  St.  George's,  New 
York,  1901-1902,  and  Christ  Church,  Dayton,  Ohio ;  rector  All 
Saints',  Palo  Alto,  Cal. 

Rev,  Hugh  Birckhead,  assistant  minister  of  St.  George's  Church, 
N.  Y.,  from  1902  to  1905 ;  minister-in-charge  from  1905  to  1906 ; 
rector  from  1906  to  date.     (See  biographical  sketches  of  rectors.) 

Rev.  William  Satterlee  Packer;  b.  Baltimore,  Md.,  Sept.  13, 
1876 ;  m.  Sept,  8, 1905,  at  Waltham,  Mass.,  Mary  Gertrude  Frost ;  ed, 
Yale  University,  B.A.,  1898 ;  Episcopal  Theological  School,  Cam- 
bridge, B.D.,  1901 ;  deacon  by  Bp.  Lawrence  in  1901,  and  priest  in 
1902  by  Bp.  Burgess ;  curate  Holy  Trinity,  Brooklyn,  1901 ;  assist- 
ant minister  St.  George's,  New  York,  1902  to  1903;  associate  to 
rector  of  Church  of  the  Advent,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1903  to  1906; 
vicar  St,  Mary's,  East  Boston,  1906  to  date. 

Rev.  Henry  Hatch  Dent  Sterrett;  b.  Coudersport,  Pa.,  Jan, 
25,  1880.  Received  degree  B.A.  from  Columbian  University,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  1898,  and  from  Harvard  University  B.A.  in  1899,  and 
M.A.  in  1900;  B.D.  in  1903  from  Cambridge  Episcopal  Theological 
School ;  deacon  in  1903  and  priest  in  1904  by  Bp.  Satterlee ;  assistant 
at  St.  George's,  New  York,  from  July,  1903,  to  July,  1906;  curate 
Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  Oct.,  1906, 

Rev.  WILLLA.M  Edgar  McCord;  b.  Rosemond,  111.,  Sept.  19,  1858 
m.  in  1906  Zelia  Isabelle  Hicks ;  ed.  Blackburn  College,  M.A.,  1885 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  N.  Y.,  1896;  deacon,  Feb.  24,  1902 
priest,  Nov.  30,  1903,  by  Bp.  Vincent;  head  worker  of  Union  Settle- 
ment, N.  Y.,  1895-1901 ;  chaplain  7th  Regiment,  N.  G.  N.  Y.,  1901 ; 
asst.  St.  Paul's,  Cincinnati,  and  St.  Paul's,  Cleveland,  1902;  asst. 


470  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

St.  George's,  New  York,  1903-1905;  now  rector  All  Saints,  Bay- 
side,  L.  I. 

Rev.  Albert  Ransom  Parker;  b.  Aug.  11,  1875,  Ogdensburg 
N.  Y. ;  ed.  public  school,  Ogdensburg;  Shattuck  School,  Faribault 
Minn;  Williams  College,  1901;  Episcopal  Theological  School,  Cam 
bridge,  1904;  deacon,  1904,  by  Bp.  Lawrence;  priest,  1905,  by  Bp 
Greer;  curate  St.  George's,  New  York,  1904-5,  and  Church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  N.  Y^,  1905-6;  rector  St.  John's,  Duluth,  1906-10 
now  rector  St.  Paul's  Church,  Gardner,  Mass. 

Rev.  Alan  McLean  Taylor;  b.  Sidney,  Ohio,  March  1,  1878 
ed.  Phillips  Academy,  Yale  University,  B.A.,  1902 ;  Episcopal  Theo- 
logical School,  Cambridge,  B.D.,  1905;  deacon  by  Bp.  Lawrence  in 
1905  and  priest  in  1906  by  the  same  bishop;  curate  St.  George's, 
New  York,  1905-1908 ;  rector  Church  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Mattapan 
Square,  Boston,  1908. 

Rev.  Charles  Conant  Harriman;  b.  June  2,  1776,  Somerville, 
Mass.;  m.  in  St.  Ann's  Church,  Morrisania,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  25,  1908, 
Edith  Lee  Wells;  ed.  Boston  Latin  School;  Harvard  University, 
B.A.,  1897;  Episcopal  Theological  School,  Cambridge,  B.D.,  1905. 
On  June  7,  1905,  ordered  deacon  by  Bp.  Lawrence,  and  ordained 
priest  Dec.  24,  1905,  by  Bp.  Greer;  assistant  in  St.  George's,  New 
York,  from  1905  to  1907;  rector  St.  Ann's,  Morrisania,  N.  Y.,  in 
1907. 

Rev.  Maxwell  W.  Rice;  b.  Aug.  1,  1882,  Williamstown,  Mass.; 
ed.  Lawrenceville  School,  1899;  Williams',  1903,  A.B. ;  Cambridge 
Theological  School,  1906,  B.D. ;  deacon  by  Bp.  Lawrence  in  1906, 
and  priest  in  1907  by  Bp.  Greer;  from  1906  to  1908  curate  in  St. 
George's,  New  Y''ork;  St.  Andrew's  Associate  Mission,  Salt  Lake 
City,  in  1908. 

Rev.  Thomas  Bond  Holland  ;  b.  Sept.  27,  1872,  St.  Louis,  Mo. ; 
ed.  Smith  Academy;  University  of  Michigan;  Washington  Uni- 
versity; General  Theological  Seminary;  member  N.  Y''.  Churchmen's 
Association  and  Trenton  Clericus;  deacon,  1906,  by  Bp.  Tuttle; 
priest,  1907,  by  Bp.  Greer;  assistant  minister  in  St.  George's,  New 
York,  1906-1909;  rector  St.  Michael's  Church,  Trenton.  N.  J.,  1909. 

Rev.  Malbone  Hunter  Birckhead;  b.  Newport,  R.  I.,  May  10, 
1879;  ed.  Groton  School;  Harvard  University,  A.B.,  1902;   Cam- 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  471 

bridge  Theological  School,  B.D.,  1906 ;  deacon  in  1906,  and  priest  in 
1907  by  Bp.  Lawrence;  curate  of  St  George's,  New  York,  from 
1907  to  1909;  master  at  Groton  School  and  assistant  at  St.  John's 
Chapel,  1909-1911. 

Rev.  James  Godfrey  "Wilson,  Jr.  ;  b.  Boston,  May  30,  1882 ;  m. 
at  Baltimore,  Md.,  Oct.  9,  1909,  Catherine  Thomson;  ed.  Barnard 
and  Trinity  Schools,  N.  Y.  City ;  Franklin  College ;  Dresden ;  Hobart 
College;  General  Theological  Seminary;  deacon  in  1908  and  priest 
in  1909  by  Bp.  Greer;  curate  at  St.  George's,  1908-1909;  assistant 
Christ  Church,  Detroit,  1909. 

Rev.  Edward  Francis  Wilcox;  ordered  deacon  by  Bp.  Lines, 
May  31,  1908,  and  ordained  priest  by  Bp.  Millspaugh,  May  30,  1909 ; 
from  1908  to  1910  assistant  in  St.  George's,  N.  Y. ;  archdeacon  of 
the  district  of  Salina,  1910-1911;  rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  Fort 
Smith,  Arkansas,  1911. 

Rev.  William  Joseph  Scarlett  ;  b.  Columbus,  Ohio,  Oct.  3,  1883 ; 
Harvard,  A.B.,  1905;  Episcopal  Theological  School,  B.D.,  1907; 
deacon  by  Bp.  Lawrence,  June  2,  1909 ;  priest  by  Bp.  Lines,  May 
16,  1910;  assistant  St.  George's  Church,  1909  to  date. 

Rev.  James  Steedman  Holland;  b.  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Sept.  27, 
1872 ;  graduate  General  Theological  Seminary ;  deacon  in  1909  by 
Bp.  Greer,  and  priest,  1910,  by  Bp.  Partridge;  assistant  minister 
of  St.  George's,  New  York,  1909-1910;  pastor  St.  Bartholomew's 
Parish  House  Chapel,  1910. 

Rev.  Arthur  Silver  Payzant;  b.  Dartmouth,  N.  S.,  March  7, 
1884;  m.  Aug.  16,  1910,  at  St.  Matthew's  Church,  Deep  Brook,  N.  S., 
Mary  P.  Payson ;  ed.  at  Dalhousie  University,  Halifax,  N.  S. ;  B.A. 
1905,  and  M.A.,  1906 ;  Cambridge  Divinity  School,  B.D.,  1909 ;  deacon 
by  Bp.  Worrell,  1908,  and  priest  by  Bp.  Courtney,  1909 ;  assistant 
minister  at  St.  George's,  New  York,  July,  1909,  to  June,  1910; 
priest-in-charge  and  vicar  of  Trinity  Memorial,  Erie,  Pa.,  July, 
1910,  to  May,  1911 ;  rector  of  same  church  May,  1911,  the  congrega- 
tion at  that  time  becoming  an  independent  parish. 

Rev.  Gerald  Arthur  Cunningham;  b.  Jan.  27,  1886,  at  West- 
field,  Mass. ;  ed.  Taft  School,  Watertown ;  Trinity  College,  Hartford ; 
General  Theological  Seminary;  ordered  deacon  by  Bp.  Brewster  in 
1910;  curate  in  St.  George's,  New  York,  1910. 


472  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Rev.  George  Edward  Norton  ;  b.  Hallowell,  Me.,  March.  28,  1881 ; 
ed.  "Williston  Seminary;  Amherst  College;  Episcopal  Theological 
Seminary,  Cambridge;  ordered  deacon  by  Bp.  Lawrence,  1910;  as- 
sistant in  St.  George's,  New  York,  July  ],  1910. 

Rev.  John  Frank  Scott  ;  b.  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  1886;  B.A.  of 
Harvard  University,  1907,  and  B.D.  of  the  Cambridge  Divinity 
School,  1910;  ordered  deacon  by  Bp.  Vinton  in  1910;  curate  St. 
George's,  New  York,  1910. 

Rev.  Robert  Barnes  McKay ;  b.  Feb.  12,  1886,  at  Phila.,  Pa.; 
ed.  University  of  Pa.;  B.A.,  1908;  Philadelphia  Divinity  School, 
1911;  assistant  minister  in  St.  George's,  New  Y^'ork,  1911. 


The  portraits  in  the  foregoing  pages,  together  with  other  illustrations 
appearing  in  this  book,  were  reproduced  from  the  collection  which  hangs 
in  the  clergy  parlor  of  the  parish  building  of  St.  George's  Church.  The 
origin  of  the  collection  is  explained  in  the  following  memorandum  from 
the  records: 

New  York,  February  14,  1907. 

We,  the  Rector,  Wardens,  and  Vestrymen  of  St.  George's  Church  in 
the  City  of  New  York,  wish  to  put  on  record  our  sincere  appreciation  of 
the  remarkable  efforts  of  Mr.  John  Reichert,  clerk  of  the  Vestry  of  this 
Parish,  in  collecting  the  portraits  of  the  past  and  present  Rectors,  Assistant 
Ministers,  Wardens,  and  Vestrymen  of  this  Parish.  Such  portraits  are 
of  great  interest  in  showing  the  place  which  St.  George's  Parish  has  held 
in  the  life  of  this  city  in  the  past,  and  we  believe  that  they  will  be  a  great 
inspiration  to  all  those  who  in  the  future  may  hold  i^ositions  of  trust  in 
St.  George's,  encouraging  them  to  maintain  the  high  standard  of  efficiency 
and  honor  which  has  always  characterized  its  career  in  the  past. 


APPENDICES 

I 

WARDENS    AND    VESTRYMEN 

WARDENS 

Gerrit  H.  Van  Wagenen 1811-1821 

Harry  Peters 1811-1823 

J.  De  Lancey  Walton 1821-1835 

Isaac  Carow 1823-1825 

Edmund  Morewood 1825-1829 

Hubert  Van  Wagenen 1829-1837 

John  Stearns,  M.D 1835-1848 

Thomas  Bloodgood 1837-1844 

James  A.  Burtus 1844-1846 

William  Whitloek,  Jr 1846-1863 

Frederick  S.  Winston 1848-1855 

Adolphus  Lane 1855-1871 

Joseph  Lawrence 1863-1866 

Samuel  Hopkins 1866-1873 

Charles  Tracy 1871-1885 

David  Dows 1873-1890 

John  Pierpont  Morgan,  LL.D 1885- 

John  Noble  Stearns 1890-1907 

R.  Fulton  Cutting,  LL.D 1907- 

VESTRYMEN 

Robert  Wardell J  1811-1812 

[  1816-1837 
John  Onderdonk,  M.D 1811-1812 

Isaac  Carow j  1811-1812 

(Warden)  \  1813-1823 

Edward  W.  Laight 1811-1816 

John  Greene 1811-1812 


474  HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Isaac  Lawrence 1811-1816 

Francis  Dominick 1811-1816 

Cornelius  Sehermerhorn 1811-1820 

Quintin   Millen 1812-1813 

William  Ustick 1812-1816 

Kobert   Bogardus 1812-1816 

Donald  Malcolm 1812-1816 

J.  De  Lancey  Walton (Warden)   1816-1821 

Jacob  Lorillard 1816-1817 

Edmund  Morewood (Warden)   1816-1825 

David  R.  Lambert 1816-1817 

Joseph  W.   Brackett 1816-1820 

Thomas   Lawrance 1817-1826 

James  M.  Hoyt 1817-1823 

Gerardus  A.  Cooper,  M.D 1820-1823 

Hubert  Van  Wagenen (Warden)   1820-1829 

Thomas  Bloodgood (Warden)   1821-1837 

Oliver  H.  Hicks 1823-1826 

John  Stearns,  M.D (Warden)   1823-1835 

John  Anthon 1823-1827 

m,            o    rr              ^  j    1825-1828 

Thomas  S.  Townsend <    ..  oooi  oqo 

James  A.  Burtus (Warden)   1826-1844 

William  Shatzell i   ,^??J"^?J^ 

(   1833-1839 

John  H.  Hill  (Later  D.D.,  LL.D.) 1827-1829 

Jeremiah  H.  Taylor 1828-1832 

Brittain  L.  Woolley 1829-1848 

John  W.  Mulligan 1829-1832 

John   Noble 1832-1834 

James  I.  Hoyt 1832-1841 

William  Whitlock,  Jr (Warden)   1835-1846 

Frederick  A.  Tracy 1835-1839 

Stewart  Brown 1837-1841 

Frederick  S.  Winston (Warden)   1837-1848 

Thatcher  Tucker 1839-1843 

Richard  B.  Brown 1839-1840 

Thomas  L.  Callender 1840-1850 

Andrew  M.  Arcularius 1841-1846 

Adolphus  Lane (Warden)   1841-1855 

Samuel  M.  Cornell 1843-1860 

Felix  A.  Huntington 1844^1847 


APPENDICES  475 

Hiram  Ketchum 1846-1848 

Henry  Anstice 1846-1854 

Joseph  Lawrence (Warden)   1847-1863 

Jacob  Le  Koy 1848-1854 

Peter  G.  Arcularius 1848-1858 

Samuel  Hopkins (Warden)   1848-1866 

William  K.  Strong  (Gen.) 1850-1860 

Ross  W.  Wood 1854-1869 

Charles  Tracy (Warden)   1854-1871 

Horace  Webster,  LL.D 1855-1865 

Percy  R.  Pyne 1858-1869 

William  A.  Haines 1860-1871 

Gideon  Pott 1860-1862 

George  C.  Satterlee ' 1862-1872 

WiUiam  L.  Jenkins 1863-1868 

William  Alex.  Smith 1865-1868 

William  T.  Blodgett 1866-1876 

David  Dows (Warden)   1868-1873 

John  Pierpont  Morgan,  LL.D (Warden)   1868-1885 

David  J.  Ely 1869-1876 

Harvey  Spencer 1869-1888 

Henry  P.  Marshall 1871-1889 

John  Noble  Stearns (Warden)   1871-1890 

J.  Mason  McJimsey 1872-1876 

John  D.  Wood 1873-1886 

Mason  Yoimg 1876-1878 

William  H.  Philips 1876-1878 

Robert  Winthrop 1876-1877 

W.   Gayer  Dominick 1877-1878 

William  E.  Curtis,  LL.D.  (Judge) 1878-1880 

James  B.  Reynolds,  M.D 1878-1883 

Theodore  H.  Mead 1878-1882 

Samuel  H.  St.  John 1882-1885 

William  H.  Schieffelin 1883-1896 

R.  Fulton  Cutting,  LL.D (Warden)   1883-1907 

William  H.  Tailer 1885-1890 

Charles  Edward  Tracy 1885-1896 

Frederic  H.  Betts,  LL.D 1886-1905 

John  King 1888-1892 

William  Lanman  Bull 1889-1895 

Henry  W.  Munroe i   1890-1893 

[  1895- 


476  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Wager  Swayne   (Gen.) 1890-1899 

William  Foulke 1892- 

Seth  Low,  LL.D 1893- 

Wm.  Jay  Schieffelin 1896-1906 

Henry  H.  Pike 1896- 

John  Seely  Ward 1896- 

James  W.  Markoe,  M.D 1899- 

Charles  S.  Brown 1905- 

Joseph  Wright  Harriman 1907- 

William  Edmond  Curtis,  LL.D 1907- 


II 

ASSISTANT    MINISTERS 

Rev.  John  Brady 1811-1816 

Rev.  J.  W.  Cooke 1835-1843 

Rev.  Pierre  P.  Irving 1843 

Rev.  Dudley  A.  Tyng 1846 

Rev.  Wm.  Yorke  Rooker 1847-1848 

Rev.  Calvin  C.  Woleott 1851-1859 

Rev.  Norman  W.  Camp 1853 

Rev.  Heman  Dyer,  D.D 1854-1859 

Rev.  Wilbur  Fisk  Paddock,  D.D 1859-1860 

Rev.  C.  W.  Bolton 1859-1865 

Rev.  J.  E.  Homans 1860-1861 

Rev.  Charles  Schramm,  D.D 1859-1868 

Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  D.D 1861-1862 

Rev.  Wm.  T.  Sabine,  D.D 1863 

Rev.  Tapping  R.  Chipman 1864 

Rev.  Uriah  T.  Tracy 1865 

Rev.  Brockholst  Morgan 1865-1866 

Rev.  C.  S.  Stephenson 1865-1871 

Rev.  Wm.  N.  McVickar,  D.D.  (Bishop  1898) 1868 

Rev.  Morris  A.  Tyng 1868-1870 

Rev.  J.  C.  Fleischhacker 1869-1878 

Rev.  J.  Eastburn  Brown 1871-1874 

Rev.  J.  Crockar  White 1871 

Rev.  N.  E.  Cornwall 1871 

Rev.  Matson  Meier-Smith,  D.D 1872 

Rev.  Edward  W.  Peet,  D.D 1873-1879 

Rev.  Robert  MoUan 1875-1876 


APPENDICES  477 

Eev.  Anselan  Buchanan 1876-1878 

Rev.  J.  Rice  Taylor 1878-1879 

Rev.  J.  Newton  Perkins 1879-1882 

Rev.  Hugh  Maguire 1882 

Rev.  R.  L.  Brydges 1883-1884 

Rev.  E.  F.  Miles,  M.D 1883-1884 

Rev.  Lindsay  Parker 1883-1886 

Rev.  Henry  Wilson,  D.D 1884-1891 

Rev.  Charles  Scadding,  D.D.  (Bishop  1906) 1886-1890 

Rev.  Wm.  E.  Nies 1886-1887 

Rev.  Richard  R.  Graham 1887-1889 

Rev.  W.  T.  Crocker 1888-1890 

Rev.  E.  Campion  Acheson 1889-1892 

Rev.  George  Nattress 1890 

Rev.  F.  E.  Edwards 1889-1890 

Rev.  Theodore  Sedgwick 1890-1894 

Rev.  Ernest  de  F.  Miel 1891-1893 

Rev.  J.  Franklin  Carter 1891-1893 

Rev.  John  N.  Lewis,  Jr 1892-1894 

Rev.  William  W.  Davis 1892-1893 

Rev.  Arthur  H.  Locke 1893-1894 

Rev.  John  R.  Atkinson 1893-1895 

Rev.  Frank  H.  Nelson 1894-1899 

Rev   Arthur  N.  Taft 1894-1900 

Rev.  Wm.  H.  Garth 1894-1898 

Rev.  Alexis  W.  Stein i  1895-1898 

1  1903-1904 

Rev.  George  R.  Hazard 1898-1900 

Rev.  Samuel  Tyler 1898-1901 

Rev.  Ezra  P.  Gould 1899-1900 

Rev.  Holmes  Whitmore 1899-1902 

Rev.  Egisto  F.  Chauncey 1900-1904 

Rev.  Philemon  F.  Sturges 1900-1903 

Rev.  D.  M.  Brookman 1901-1902 

Rev.  Hugh  Birckhead,  D.D.  (Rector  1905) 1902-1905 

Rev.  Wm.  S.  Packer 1902-1903 

Rev.  H.  H.  D.  Sterrett 1903-1906 

Rev.  Wm.  E.  McCord 1903-1905 

Rev.  Albert  R.  Parker 1904-1905 

Rev.  A.  McLean  Taylor 1905-1908 

Rev.  C.  C.  Harriman 1905-1907 

Rev.  Maxwell  W.  Rice ,1906-1908 


478  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Rev.  Thomas  B.  Holland 1906-1909 

Eev.  Malbone  H.  Birckhead 1907-1909 

Rev.  James  Godfrey  Wilson,  Jr 1908-1909 

Rev.  Edward  Francis  Wilcox 1908-1910 

Rev.  William  Joseph  Scarlett 1909-1911 

Rev.  James  Steedman  Holland 1909-1910 

Rev.  Arthur  Silver  Payzant 1909-1910 

Rev.  Gerald  Arthur  Cunningham 1910- 

Rev.  George  Edward  Norton 1910- 

Rev.  John  Frank  Scott 1910- 

Rev.  Robert  Barnes  McKay 1911- 


III 

CLERKS     OF     THE     VESTRY 

Edward  W.  Laight 1811-1816 

Joseph  W.   Brackett 1816-1820 

Hubert  Van  Wagenen 1820 

Gerardus  A.   Cooper 1820-1823 

Oliver  H.  Hicks 1823-1826 

Thomas   Bloodgood 1826-1837 

Frederick  S.  Winston 1837-1848 

Samuel  M.  Cornell 1848-1860 

Gideon   Pott 1860-1862 

Samuel  Hopkins 1862-1871 

Henry  P.  Marshall 1871-1876 

Wm.  H.  Philips 1876-1878 

Theodore  H.  Mead 1878-1882 

John  D.  Wood 1882-1884 

AVm.  H.  Schieffelin 1884-1886 

Frederic  H.  Betts 1886-1905 

John  Reichert 1905- 


IV 

TREASURERS 

Gerrit  H.  Van  Wagenen 1811-1816 

Harry  Peters 1816-1820 


APPENDICES  479 

Hubert  Van  Wagenen 1820-1837 

James  A.  Burtus 1837-1846 

William  Whitloek,  Jr 1846-1863 

William  A.   Haines 1863-1870 

David  J.  Ely 1870-1876 

Henry  P.  Marshall 1876-1888 

J.  Pierpont  Morgan 1888-1891 

W.  Lanman  Bull 1891-1892 

Henry  W.  Munroe 1892-1893 

William  Foulke 1893- 


ORGANISTS 

Peter  Erben 1811-1815 

Mr.  Tavlor 1815-1816 

T          TT   Q    •    .  11  i  1816-1819 

James  H.  Swindell ^  ..  ooo-i  n^R 

George   Clark 1819-1820 

Thomas  Hall 1821-1823 

Richard  L.  Williams 1827-1830 

William  Yucho 1830-1834 

William  Henry  Milnor 1834-1847 

Henry   Greatorex 1849-1850 

Henry  Dibble 1851 

John  Zundel 1853-1854 

George  F.  Bristow 1855-1859 

William  A.  King 1860-1861 

Henry  W.  A.  Beale 1861 

Theron  W.  Touner 1862 

W.  Francis  Williams 1863-1876 

S.  Austin  Pearce,  Mus.  Doe 1876-1877 

W.  H.  Pratt 1877-1879 

Burdett  Mason 1879 

S.  N.  Penfield 1882-1883 

Julius   G.   Bierck 1883-1888 

William  S.  Chester 1888-1900 

E.  B.  Kinney,  Jr 1900-1904 

Homer  Norris 1904- 


480  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

VI 

PARISH     CLERKS 

Jacob  Leonard 1811-1817 

John  Phillips 1818-1825 

Benjamin  Barnett 1826 

Jarvis  B.  Curtis 1827-1829 

E.  W.  Morse Easter,  1830,  to  May,  1830 

Wm.  A.  Jones 1830-1831 

Solomon  Warriner,  Jr 1834-1847 


VII 

SEXTONS 

John  Purely 1811-1816 

Nicholas  Anderson 1816-1828 

John  Rose 1828-1833 

Daniel  Miller 1833-1837 

George  E.  Townley 1837-1840 

Thomas  Dugan 1840-1858 

George  Briarly 1858-1884 

E.  H.  Torry 1884-1885 

James  A.  Pudney 1885-1886 

Richard  Hanlon 1886-1894 

H.  R.  Dieckman 1894-1895 

H.  W.  Chapman 1895-1908 

John  C.  Tiedeman 1909- 

ASSISTANT  SEXTONS 

(  1828-1830 
Charles  Willets )  1834-1835 

(  1838-1848 

John  Peterson 1830-1831 

Daniel   Miller (Sexton)   1831-1833 

Charles  Ford 1835-1836 

George  E.  Townley (Sexton)   1836-1837 

Thomas  Dugan,  Jr 1848 

John  Mulvany 1849-1850 

George  Briarly (Sexton)   1851-1858 

Robert  Riley 1871- 


APPENDICES  481 

VIII 
DEACONESSES    AND     OTHER    WOMEN    WORKERS 

(rainsford  and  birckhead  periods) 

Miss  Harriet  H.  Patten 1883-1898 

Mrs.  E.  F.  Miles 1883-1884 

Miss  A.  R.  Russell 1883-1888 

Sister  Georgette 1884-1885 

Miss  Sarah  H.  Hicks 1884-1887 

Miss  Anita  Burt 1884-1885 

Miss  Shepherd 1884-1885 

Mrs.  M.  W.  Smith 1885-1886 

Miss  Frances  R.  Smith 1885-1886 

Miss  Harriet  Goldie 1885-1886 

Mrs.  F.  Burrill 1886-1887 

Miss  J.  E.  Forneret (Deaconess  in  1887)   1886-1899 

Miss  Clara  H.  Simpson (Deaconess  in  1892)   1887-1908 

Miss  M.  A.  Bolman 1888-1890 

Miss  Cornelia  Ellsworth  Marshall 1889-1908 

Miss  Sara  J.  Elliott 1890-1891 

Miss  Hildegarde  von  Brockdorff (Deaconess  in  1892)   1891-1899 

Miss  E.  A.  Bays 1892- 

Miss  Mildred  Pegram 1892-1893 

Miss  Julia  Percy  Miel 1892-1893 

Dr.  Ethel  D.  Brown 1892- 

Miss  Sarah  F.  Brown (Deaconess  in  1894)   1892-1894 

Miss  LiUian  Keyes 1894-1897 

Miss  Virginia  C.  Young (Deaconess  in  1904)   1897- 

Deaconess  Edith  L.  Taft 1899-1903 

Miss  Georgia  L.  Wilkie (Deaconess  in  1904)   1899-1907 

Miss  S.  M.  Stewart 1899-1900 

Miss  Eliza  W.  Beard 1902-1904 

Miss  Mabel  P.  Schmidt 1903-1904 

Miss  Sada  Tomlinson 1903-1907 

Miss  E.  R.  Tomkins 1904-1908 

Miss  Belle  Tiffany 1904-1905 

Dr.  Pauline  Root 1905 

Miss  Elizabeth  B.  Colles 1906-1908 

Miss  Alice  MacLellan 1907-1908 

Deaconess  M.  A.  Pennock 1907-1908 


482  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 

Miss  H.  G.  EUs 1907-1908 

Miss  Katherine  AUis 1907-1909 

Deaconess  Mabel  Hobart 1908-1909 

Mrs.  William  N.  Drumm 1908- 

Miss  Louisa  G.  Freeland 1908- 

Miss  Clara  Porter 1909-1910 

Miss  Eleanor  Brown 1909-1910 

Deaconess  Pauline  L.  Neidhardt 1909-1911 

Miss  Sallie  W.  Hovey 1909-1910 

Miss  Alice  H.  Peavey 1910- 

Miss  Anna  M.  Thompson 1910- 

Deaconess  Margaret  S.  Peet 1910-1911 

Miss  Jean  McGregor 1910-1911 

Miss  Mary  Harriman 1911- 


IX 
INVENTORY 

CHURCH    PLATE,    MEMORIAL    WINDOWS,    TABLETS,    ETC. 

1  large-sized  Paten;  inscription,  "  St.  George's  Church  a.d.  1812," 
with  seal  of  Church. 

2  Bread  Plates;  inscription,  "  St.  George's  Church,  New  York, 
A.D.  1812,"  with  seal  of  Church. 

2  large  Silver  Flagons ;  inscription,  * '  St.  George 's  Church,  New 
York,  A.D.  1812,"  with  seal  of  Church. 

2  extra  large  Silver  Chalices;  inscription,  "  St.  George's  Church, 
New  York,  A.D.  1812." 

1  Plated  Silver  large-sized  Paten. 

1  Silver  perforated  Spoon;  inscription,  "  St.  George's  Church." 

2  small  Silver  Cups;  inscription,  "  St.  George's  Church,  New 
York,  1862." 

1  extra  large-sized  Paten;  inscription,  "  St.  George's  Church, 
New  York,  a.d.  1864,"  with  seal  of  Church. 

2  large  Silver  Flagons ;  inscription,  ' '  St.  George 's  Church,  New 
York,  A.D.  1898,"  with  seal  of  Church,  "  In  Memory  of  the  Rev. 
John  Livingston  Willard,  given  by  his  Daughter  Mary  Livingston 
Willard." 

1  extra  large  Silver  Flagon;  inscription,  "  Given  by  Mary  Liv- 
ingston "Willard  in  Memory  of  her  father,  John  Livingston  Willard. ' ' 


APPENDICES  483 

6  large  Silver  Chalices;  inscription,  "  St.  George's  Church,  New 
York,"  with  seal  of  Church,  "  In  Memory  of  Louise  "Wetmore, 
Easter,  1898." 

1  small  Silver  Flagon;  inscription,  "  In  Memory  of  Mary  E. 
Baxter,  Easter,  1898." 

1  small  Bread  Plate  in  memory  of  Mary  E.  Baxter,  Easter,  1898. 

6  large  Sterling  Silver  Collection  Plates;  inscription,  "  St. 
George 's  Church,  New  York, ' '  with  seal  of  Church ;  5  marked  1812, 
1  marked  1886. 

1  Alms  Basin;  inscription,  "  St.  George's  Church,  New  York," 
with  seal  of  Church. 

4  medium  size  Plated  Collection  Plates ;  inscription,  ' '  St.  George 's 
Church,  New  York." 

2  small  size  Plated  Collection  Plates;  inscription,  "  St.  George's 
Church,  New  York. ' ' 

2  Silver-plated  Vases;  inscription,  "  Easter,  1887.  Presented  by 
Louise  H.  Betts  (I.  H.  S.),  St.  George's  Church." 

5  Memorial  Windows  in  Chancel  of  Church.     (See  p.  236.) 

2  Memorial  Windows  in  Choir-room;  inscription  No.  1,  "  In  Lov- 
ing Memory  of  Georgie  T,  Manning,  entered  into  Life  February 
23,  A.D.  1894."    Inscription  No.  2: 

"  For  all  the  saints  who  from  their  Labors  rest 
Who  thee  by  Faith  before  the  world  confessed 
Thy  name  0  Jesus  be  forever  blessed,  Allelvia." 

Tablet;  inscription,  "  In  Loving  Memory  of  John  Noble  Stearns, 
1831-1907.  Vestryman  for  19  years.  Junior  Warden  for  17  years. 
Beloved  of  God  and  Men  Whose  Memory  is  Blessed. ' ' 

Tablet;  inscription,  "  In  memoriam  Frederic  Henry  Betts,  March 
8,  1843,  Nov.  11,  1905.    Vestryman  of  this  Parish  for  18  years." 

Tablet ;  inscription,  ' '  To  the  Glory  of  God  and  in  Loving  Memory 
of  William  Sidel  Chester.  Born  Dec.  7,  1865.  Died  Feb.  22,  1900. 
By  bearing,  devotion,  and  conspicuous  ability  he  greatly  helped  the 
people  to  worship  God." 

Tablet ;  inscription,  ' '  In  Memory  of  Katherine  Livingston  Waldo 
Tucker,  1864-1899.  The  Souls  of  the  saints  who  followed  the  foot- 
steps of  Christ  Rejoice  in  Heaven,  and  for  as  much  as  they  loved 
Him  they  shall  reign  with  Him  forever. ' ' 

Inscription  on  inside  cover  of  present  Prayer-book  on  Holy  Table, 
"  In  Memoriam  of  Frederic  H.  Betts,  Nov.  11,  1905." 

Inscription  on  inside  of  old  Prayer-book  formerly  used  for  Holy 


484  HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 

Table,  ''  Presented  by  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Senior  Warden  of  St. 
George's  Church,  New  York,  Jan.,  1894." 

Inscription  in  present  Bible  on  Reading-desk,  St.  George's  Mission 
Chapel,  "  In  Memoriam  Dorothea  Shedel.  Died  in  her  85tli  year, 
Mch.  18,  1863." 

Inside  rear  cover  of  book,  St.  George's  German  Mission  Church, 
*'  In  Memoriam  Dorothea  Shedel.    Died  in  her  85th,  Mch.  18,  1863." 

Inscription  under  Bust  of  Dr.  Milnor:  "  Sacred  to  the  Memory 
of  James  Milnor,  D.D.  Born  June  20,  1773.  Died  April  8,  1845. 
Rector  of  St.  George's  Church  from  Sept.  30,  1816,  to  his  death. 
His  Labors  were  abundant  not  only  in  the  parish,  but  in  all  Religious 
Philanthropic  and  Charitable  work  Throughout  the  City,  and  his 
Death  was  deplored  as  a  Public  loss.  Mark  the  perfect  man  and 
behold  the  upright,  for  the  end  of  that  man  is  peace." 

Inscription  under  Bust  of  Dr.  Tyng:  "  Sacred  to  the  Memory  of 
Stephen  Higginson  Tyng,  D.D.  Born  March  1,  1800.  Died  Sep- 
tember 4,  1885.  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church  from  May  1,  1845, 
to  May  1,  1878.  Rector  Emeritus  from  May  1,  1878,  to  his  Death. 
A  Man  of  God  Full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  of  Faith  and  of  Power  looking 
for  that  Blessed  Hope  and  the  Glorious  appearing  of  the  Great  God 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. ' ' 

Bust  of  Dr.  Rainsford  in  the  Sunday-school  room. 


COMMUNICANT    LIST,    AUGUST,    1822 

The  original  of  this  list  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Rev.   Dr.   Milnor;  s. 
standing  for  spinster,  nx.  for  wife  of,  w.  for  widow. 

Charles  W.  Abrams  (Clerk),  Beza  E.  Bliss,  Counsellor  at  Law. 

Julianna   Abrams,   wife   of   Ch.   W.  Betsy  Bliss,  ux.  B.  E.  B. 

Jane  Ann  Adams,  s.  Mary  M.  Bliss,  s. 

Sarah  Avery,  w.  William  Byranck,  Ship  Carpenter. 

John  Anthon,  Counsellor  at  Law.  Frances  Byranck,  ux.  W.  B. 

Judith  Anthon,  ux.  Jno.  A.  Catharine  Bosthwick,  ux.  Benj.  B. 

Rebecca  Allen,  s.  Rachel  Bloodgood,  ux.  Jno.  B. 

Elizabeth  Aymar,  ux.  J.  D.  A.  Samuel  A.  Burtus,  Booksellei*. 

Jemima  Allen.  Rachel  Burtus,  ux.   S.   A.   B.,   since 

Guy  Carleton  Bayley,  M.D.  ux.  Jas.  A.  B. 

Grace  Bayley,  ux.  G.  C.  B.  Mrs.  Barfe,  w. 

Anne  Barnes,  s.  Robert  C.  Barfe,  Mei'chant. 

H.  N.  Bush,  Merchant.  Pho?be  Barfe.  ux.  R.  C.  B. 

Hannah  Bush,  ux.  H.  N.  B.  Hannah  Butler,  w. 

Mary  Beadel,  ux.  Jos.  W.  B.  Maria  Brodie,  ux.  Wm.  B.  B. 


APPENDICES 


485 


Polly  Beach,  w. 

Faniiv   Beach,    s.,   since   ns.    James 

Ladd. 
Catharine  Beach,  s. 
Caroline  Beach,  s. 
Elizabeth  Budd,  w. 
Tamer  Budd,  s. 
Mary  Bumham. 
Charity  Bartow,  s. 
Maria  Bartow,  s. 
Clara  Anna  Bartow,  w. 
Robert  S.  Bartow,  Auctioneer. 
Susan,  w,  of  R.  S.  Bartow. 
Susan  R.  Bartow,  s. 
Robert  Bartow,  Bookseller. 
George  A.  Bartow,  Bookseller. 
Maiy  Ann  Bartow,  s. 
Jane  BartoAv,  s. 
Mary  Barnes.  Col'd  woman. 
Harris  Blood,  Merchant. 
Harriet  Blood,  ux.  H.  B. 
Thomas  Bloodgood,  Wine  Merchant. 
Anna  Bloodgood,  ux.  of  T.  B. 
Jane  Bogart.  Colored  woman. 
Julian  na  Blag'ge,  s. 
Joseph  Warren  Brackett,  Counsellor 

at  Law. 
Charlotte  Brackett,  ux.  J.  W.  B. 
Eliza  Bonner,  s. 
Emma  Beers,  s. 
Mr.  Britton. 
Mrs.  Brane. 
Elizabeth  I.  Barr,  s. 
George  F.  Bunce,  Printer. 
Susanna  Bunce,  w. 
Caroline  A.  Bunce,  s. 
Cornelia  Bunce,  s. 
Ann  Bunce,  s. 
Eliza  Bunce. 
Maria  Banyer,  w. 
Susan  Bradshaw,  ux.  Jas.  B. 
John  C.  Brown,  House  Carpenter. 
Jacobina  Blount,  w. 
George  Belden,  Merchant. 
Anne  C.  Benjamin,  s. 
John  Bristed,  Counsellor  at  Law. 
Magdalen  Bristed.  ux.  Jno.  B. 
Josephine  Baxter,  s. 
Joanna  Baxter,  s. 
Sarah  Baxter,  s. 
Catharine  Baxter,  s. 
Mary  Brunn,  ux.  And'w  B. 


Ann  Butler,  s. 

Mary  Ann  Braman,  ux.  B. 

Joseph  D.  Beers,  Merchant. 

Mary  Beers,  ux.  J.  D.  B. 

Leveritt  Bush,  Student  of  Divinity, 

Samuel  Beck,  Lieut.  U.  S.  Navy. 

Hannah  Brooks,  w. 

Jane  Bowden,  ux.  And'w  B. 

Lucinda  Bonfils,  ux.  Sauveur  I.  B. 

William  Burridge,  Merchant. 

—  Burridge,  ux;  Wm.  B. 
Dinah  Barnes,  Col'd  woman. 
Hannah  Bronson,  w. 

Isaac  Carow,  Merchant. 
Elizabeth  Carow,  ux.  I.  C. 
Jolni  Chambers. 
Gerardus  A.  Cooper,  M.D. 
Sarah  IMargaretta  Crommeline,  s. 
Jane  Clussman,  ux.  Geo.  H.  C. 
Eliza  Cooper,  s. 
John  Clarke,  Gentleman. 
Mary  Clarke,  ux.  Jno  C. 
Ann  Cadle,  s. 
Anne  Collister,  s. 
Esther  Cannon,  ux.  C. 
George  Caines,  Counsellor  at  Law. 
Ann  Louisa  Caines,  s. 
Thomas  Collister,  Gent. 
William  Coxe. 
James  D.  Clifford. 
George  Cleveland,  Merchant. 
Frederick  Clai-ke,  Hatter. 
Lucy  Charter,  ux.  Geo.  C. 
Helen  Cropsey,  w. 
Susanna  Carr,  ux.  Jno.  P.  C. 
Susan  Cleveland,  s. 
Samuel  C.  Cleveland. 
Catharine  Cooper,  w. 
Alletta  Cooper,  s. 
Ellen  Campbell,  s. 
Nicholas  Cisco,  Col'd  man. 
Charles    Constantine,    Copper    plate 
printer. 

—  Conner,  w. 
William  Rodman  Cooke. 

—  Crommeline,  w. 
Mai-A'  Cotten.  s. 

Elizabeth  Cooke,  ux.  Geo.  W.  C. 

Justina  Collister,  s. 

Maiy  Cadle,  ux.  Cornelius  C. 

Anne  L.  Cooper,  ux.  Dr.  Geo.  A.  C. 

Georgianna  Cooke,  ux.  Wm.  R.  C. 


486 


HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


Walton  M.  Curtis. 

Sarah  C.  Cleveland,  s. 

Lucy  Cotten,  s. 

Francis  Dominick,  Gent. 

Margaret  E.  Dominick,  s. 

Ralph  Duncan,  Auctioneer. 

Jane  Duncan,  ux.  R.  D. 

Sarah  Dixon. 

Olivia  Devonshire,  Col'd  woman. 

Eleanor  Dunlap,  w. 

Elizabeth  Deleno,  ux.  Capt.  Thos.  D. 

Lucretia  Dixon,  Col'd  woman. 

Ann  Dominick,  s. 

Robert  Disney. 

William  Dennis,  Col'd  man. 

Frances  Dongan,  w. 

Henrietta  Dicks,  s. 

H.  W.  Dueachet,  M.D. 

George  Dominick,  Gent. 

Mrs.  Dale,  w. 

Ann  Dorothy  Ducaehet,  ux.  Dr.  H. 
W.  D. 

Margaret  E.  Dominick,  Jr.,  s. 

Ann  Maria  Dominick,  s. 

Heni-y  B.  Davis,  Counsellor  at  Law. 

Thomas  Egenton,  Millstone-maker. 

Jane  Egenton,  ux.  T.  E.  Since 
T.  E.'s  death,  ux.  Peter  Morris. 

James  Wallace  Eastbum,  Student  in 
Divinity. 

Effingham  L.  Embree,  Merchant. 

Manton  Eastbum,  Student  in  Di- 
vinity. 

Charlotte  Eastburn,  s. 

Ann  Ebbets,  ux.  Dan'l  E.  E. 

Joshua  Fisher,  M.D. 

Sally  Forsyth. 

Ann  Magdalena  Fowler,  w.  of 
Pexil  F. 

Mary  Fowler,  w. 

Margaret  Francis,  Colored  woman. 

Eliza  Flanagan,  s. 

Samuel  B.  Ferguson,  Currier. 

Philip  Flagler. 

Sarah  Gage,  ux.  S.  G. 

Ann  Goodrich,  ux.  Charles  G. 

Mary  Gilford,  s. 

Horatio  Gillet. 

Augustus  W.  Gillet. 

Erastus   Goodwin,   Merchant   Tailor. 

Mary  Griswold,  ux.  Zech  G. 

Ann  Glover,  s. 


Elizabeth  Gainey,  s. 

Martha  Glover,  s. 

Stephen  Gorham,  Merchant. 

—  Gainer,  ux.  W.  Gainer. 
Martha  C.  Gilliat,  w. 
Frederick  A.  Guion. 

Ann  Glover,  ux.  John  G.,  Jr. 

—  Goodrich,  s. 

Oliver  H.  Hicks,  Merchant. 
Ann  Hunt,  w. 
Hetty  Hunt,  s. 
Benjamin  Hicks. 
Lilies  Harriot,  w. 
Sarah  Heffernan,  w. 
Sarah  Heffernan,  Jr.,  s. 
Benjamin  Halsted,  Gent. 
Elizabeth  Halsted,  s. 
Susan  Halsted,  s. 
Elizabeth  Huthwaite,  w. 

—  Harrison,  s. 

Henry  Hoffman,  Merchant. 

Plenry  I.  Hagiier. 

James  M.  Hoyt,  Merchant. 

Mary  Hoyt,  ux.  James  M.  H. 

Sarah  Harris,  w. 

Sarah  Maria  Hacker,  s. 

Wealthy  Hopkins,  w. 

Elizabeth  Handy,  Col'd  woman. 

Catharine  Henry,  s. 

Alice  Mary  Haight,  ux.  Gilbert  H. 

Maria  Hill,  s. 

Sarah  Halsted,  s. 

Charlotte  Halsted,  ux.  Matthias  H. 

John  H.  Hill,  Merchant. 

John  A.  Hicks. 

Marv  Hamilton,  w. 

Catharine  B.  Hall. 

Sarah  Hawley,  ux,  Wm.  H. 

Eliza  Hoffman,  s. 

Matthias  Halsted. 

Eliza  Huthwaite,  s. 

Margaret  Hedden,  w. 

Susan  Hoyt,  iix.  James  I.  H. 

Rebecca  Caroline  Hamilton,  ux.  Rich. 

D.  H. 
Eliza  Ann  Hamilton,  s. 
Elizabeth  Hoffman,  ux.  Henry  H. 
Mary  Ann  Hiller,  s. 
eTane  Hall,  s. 
Maria  Hubbard,  s. 
Philo  Hillyer.  Merchant. 

—  Hillyer,  ux.  Philo  H. 


APPENDICES 


487 


James  Hill  (col'd  boy). 

Mrs.  Hotehkiss,  w. 

Ann  Maria  Hall,  s. 

Mrs.  Hall,  ux.  Mr.  Hall,  Spruce  St. 

Euphemia  Hyer,  s. 

Isabella,  Col'd  woman. 

Sarah  Johnston,  w. 

Mary  Jackways,  ux.  Capt.  Jackways. 

Harriet  Jennings. 

Elizabeth  Johnson. 

Rebecca  Jedwyn,  ux.  J. 

Amelia  Ann  JaiTis,  s. 

Huldah  Jarvis,  ux.  Samuel  J. 

Sarah  L.  Jay,  s. 

Legi'and  Jai-vis. 

Catharine  Jones,  s. 

Nancy  Jamieson,  Col'd  woman. 

David  Johnston,  Col'd  man. 

Ann  Jones,  s. 

John  Jonas,  Gardener. 

Mrs.  Jonas,  ux.  John  J. 

—  Jennings,  ux.  Thos.  J. 

Mary  Ann  Jones,  w. 

Jacob  Sieman  Jackson,  Cordwainer. 

Eliza  Jenkins,  s. 

Joseph  Kissam,  Merchant. 

Hannah  Kissam,  ux.  Jos.  K. 

Mary  Kissam. 

Catharine  Keams,  w. 

Eleanor  Kip,  ux.  John  K. 

Phoebe  Kissam,  ux.  James  K. 

Maria  C.  Kip,  s. 

George  B.  King,  Engraver. 

Hezekia  Ketchum,  Gent. 

John  Kirens. 

Eliza  Ketchimi,  s. 

Jacob  Leonard,  Boat-builder. 

Catharine  Leonard,  ux.  Jacob  L. 

Charlotte  Leonard,  w. 

Maria  Ledyard,  ux.  Peter  V.  L. 

Sarah  Leonard,  s. 

Jacob  Lorillard,  Currier. 

Margaretta  A.  Lorillard,  ux.  Jacob  L. 

William  Longdon,  Merchant. 

Catharine  Lyons,  w. 

Eleanor  Lawrence,  w. 

Augusta  M.  Lawrence,  ux.  "Watson  E. 

Sophia  Laycroft,  w. 

Thomas  Lawrance,  Merchant. 

Isaac  Lawrence,  Merchant. 

Cornelia,  ux.  Isaac  L. 

Margaret  Lawrence,  ux.  Thomas  L.  L. 


—  Little,  s. 

James  Ladd,  Watch-maker. 

William  Lonzada. 

Eliza  E.  Livingston,  w. 

Frances  H.  Livingston,  w. 

Maria  Longworth,  ux.  Thomas  L. 

Mrs.  Little,  ux.  Jonathan  L.,  Esq. 

James  Mihior,  Rector  of  St.  George's, 

elected  to  that  office  July  10,  1816. 
Eleanor  Mihior,  ux.  James  M. 
Jane  Mowatt,  ux.  John  M. 
Edmund  Morewood,  Merchant. 
Sarah  E.  Morewood,  ux.  Ed  M. 
Donald  Malcolm,  Merchant. 
Ermina  D.  Malcolm,  ux.  Donald  M. 
Quintin  Millen,  Gent. 
Mrs.  Millen,  ux.  Quintin  M. 
Margaretta  Mann,  w. 
Elizabeth  Morris,  w. 
Catharine  Mitchell,  ux.  Walker  M. 
John  F.  Miller,  Cooper. 
Susanna  McClean,  s. 
Rachel  Maynard,  ux.  Tyler  M. 
Ann  Marsh. 
Mary  McCormick,  w. 
Charlotte  M.  Munger,  w. 
Sarah  Murray,  Col'd  woman. 
Betty  Meredith,  w. 
Ann  Mount,  s. 

Clarina  Louisa  Mumford,  ux.  M. 
Walker  Mitchell,  Gent. 
Eliza  Munger,  s. 
Eliza  Ann  Mason,  s. 
Eliza  McLellan,  s. 
William    H.    Mitchell,    Student    in 

Divinity. 
Charles  McEuen,  Counsellor  at  Law. 
Sarah  McEuen,  ux.  C.  McEuen. 
Frances  McNamara,  w. 
Frances  Maria  Mulligan,  s. 
Elizabeth  Mason,  ux.  Jno.  F.  M. 
IMai-y  Miller,  w. 

Charlotte  Miranda,  Col'd  woman. 
Catharine  M.  McEuen,  s. 
Rachel  Moffatt,  w. 
Sarah  Sophia  Morrison,  s. 
Elizabeth  Norwood,  ux.  And'w  N. 
Elizabeth  Newport,  Col'd  woman. 
Ann  Newell,  w. 
Esther  Nicloi,  w. 
Theodosia  Needham,  w. 
Nancy  Niel,  Col'd  woman. 


488 


HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 


Luoia  Noble,  ux,  Jno.  N. 

James  Oram,  Printer. 

Elizabeth  Oram,  s. 

Harry  Peters,  Gent. 

Mary  Pelletreau,  s. 

Ann  Pelletreau,  s. 

Jane  Panton,  w. 

Eliza  E.  Parker,  s. 

John  1.  Post,  Upholsterer. 

John  Purdy. 

Elizabeth  Polock,  w. 

Charlotte  Pratt,  w. 

Hylah  Prince,  w. 

Edward  C.  Priest,  Merchant. 

Eliza  M.  Priest,  ux.  Edw.  C.  P. 

Ann  Price,  ux.  Joseph  P. 

Mary  Perrott,  ux.  James  P. 

Elizabeth  Peacock,  ux.  Henry  P. 

Frederick  W.  Porter,  Merchant. 

Susan  Post,  ux.  Gerardus  P. 

Elizabeth  Peshine,  w. 

Catharine  Post,  s. 

Deborah  Louisa  Post,  s. 

Frederick  Tomlinson  Peet,  Merchant. 

John  Phillips,  Clk.  of  St.  George's. 

Joseph  Pettit,  Merchant. 

Emma  Pettit,  ux.  Jos.  P. 

Margaret  Pugh. 

Maria  Parker,  CoFd  woman. 

William  Preston. 

Eriphale  Penau. 

—  Piatt,  M.D. 

—  Piatt,  ux.  Dr.  Pratt. 
Catharine  PhilliiDs,  ux.  Jno.  P. 
Sarah  Patton,  s. 

Ann  Peters,  ux.  Jno.  P. 

Manuel  Prestana. 

Mrs.  Prestana. 

Sarah  Parsons,  w. 

Harriet  Peck,  s. 

Elizabeth  Peet,  ux.  Fred  T.  P. 

William  Peshine. 

Mary  Robins,  w. 

—  Ryder,  w. 
Deborah  Rhinelander,  w. 
Mary  Eliza  Roach,  s. 
Mary  Roorbach,  w. 
Charity  Robinson,  ux.  .Jno.  R. 
Mary  Rollinson,  ux.  Wm.  R. 
Eliza  Rollinson,  s. 

Ann  Raymond,  w. 
Mary  Rauvau,  w. 


Sophia  Roorbach. 
Charles  Henry  Robertson. 
Eleanor  Rose,  ux.  Jno.  Rose. 
William  Ricketts,  Merchant. 
William  Rollinson,  Engraver. 
Elizabeth  Rutledge,  w. 
Charles  Reed,  Colored  man. 
Chloe  Robinson,  Colored  woman. 
John  Rose,  House  Carpenter. 
Margaret  Reynolds,  w. 

—  Ritter,  w. 
Peter  R.  Roach. 
Mary  Saunders,  w. 
Sarah  Shackerly,  s. 
Sarah  Sprainger,  w. 

George  P.  Shipman,  Merchant. 
•Joseph  P.  Shelton. 

—  Shelton,  ux.  Jos.  P.  S. 
Mai-y  T.  Smith,  ux.  Thos.  H.  S. 
Lydia  Starr,  w. 

Rebecca     Schermerhora,     ux.     Cor- 
nelius S. 
Hagar  Simpson,  Col'd  woman. 
]\Iary  Sherwood,  w. 
William  H.  Smith,  Custom  H.  oflficer. 
Eleanor  N.  Smith,  ux.  Wm.  H.  S. 
Maiy  Stansbury,  w. 
Mary  Summers,  s. 
Julia  Emraerson  Sewell,  s. 
Sarah  Sewell,  s. 

Margaret  W.  Sayre,  ux.  Nathan  S. 
Sarah  Smith,  ux.  John  T.  S. 
Elizabeth  Saunders,  Col'd  woman. 
Caroline  Slidell,  s. 
Hannah  Sturtevant,  w. 
Jennet  Shepherd,  ux.  Jno.  S. 

—  Sherry,  Merchant. 

—  Sherry,  ux.  S. 

Charity  Smith,  Col'd  woman. 
Cornelius  Schermerhom,  Merchant. 
Simon  Schermerhorn. 
David  Stansbury,  Mason. 

—  Stretch,  s. 
Ann  Scriba,  w. 
Joseph  Sands,  Merchant. 
Elijah  Spragaie. 
Elizabeth  Stretch,  w. 

—  Shatzell,  ux.  Will'm  S. 
Mary  Stone,  s. 
William  Sparrow. 
Sarah  Sherbourne,  s. 
John  Stearns,  M.D. 


APPENDICES 


489 


—  Sampson,  ux.  Wm  Sampson. 
Cath.  Ann  Sampson,  s. 

—  Stearns,  ux.  of  Dr.  Steams. 
William   Sbatzell   Cordwainer. 

—  Spencer,  ux.  Mark  S. 
Bathsheba  Thorne,  w. 
Lueretia  Tousey,  w. 
Jeremiah  H.  Taylor,  Merchant. 
Lcetitia  F.  Todd. 

Dire  Tenbroeck,  Counsellor  at  Law. 

Cornelia  Tenbroeck,  ux.  Dire. 

John  Thomas. 

Catharine  ThrogTnorton,  s. 

Eliza  C.  Tillinghast,  ux.  T. 

Sarah  Tompkins,  & 

Joseph  Tlirogmorton. 

Charles  W.  Taylor,  Merchant. 

Cornelia  Taylor,  ux.  Chas.  W.  T. 

Han-iet  Tousej',  s. 

Ann  Eliza  Tousey,  s. 

Khoda  W.  TavloV,  ux.  Jerem.  H.  T. 

Fitch  W.  Taylor. 

Julia  Ann  Thompson,  s. 

Eliza  Thompson,  w. 

Lucinda  Towusend,  w. 

John  Tredway,  Flour  Merchant, 

Nancy  Tredway,  ux.  John  T. 

Emmeline  I.  Taylor,  s. 

Helen  Eliza  Thompson,  s. 

Sally  C.  Thompson,  s. 

William  Ustick,  City  Weigher. 

Ann  Ustick,  s. 

Thomas  S.  Underbill. 

Gerritt  H.  Van  Wagenen,  Merchant. 

Sarah    Van    Wagenen,    ux.    Gerrit, 

H.  V. 
Catharine  Voss,  w. 
Mary    Van    Wagenen,    ux,    Hubert 

v!  w. 

Hubert  Van  Wagenen,  Merchant. 
!Mary  Vermyllia,  ux.  V. 
Sarah  Van  Wagenen,  Jr.,  s. 
James  D.  Walton,  Gent. 
Mar\'  Walton,  s. 
Sarah  Weed. 
Ruth  Weeks,  s. 


Frances    H.    Williamson,    ux.    Dr. 

LeW^ 
Eiehard  M.  White,  Merchant. 
.James  Welling,  Merchant. 
Beniamin  Wells. 
Rachel  Wishart,  ux.  D.  W. 
Ann  Wright,  s. 

Maria  Whetten,  ux.  Capt.  Jno.  W. 
Uzziah  Wenman,  Merchant  Taylor. 
Ann  Wenman,  ux.  Uzziah  W. 
Polly  Wilson,  s. 
Nancy  Wilson,  s. 
Maria  Willis,  w. 

—  Ward,  ux.  Oliver  D.  W. 
Charles  S.  White,  Silversmith. 
Sophia  Williams,  s. 
William  H.  Ward,  Merchant. 
Eliza  Ward.  ux.  Stephen  W. 
Esther  White,  ux.  Samuel  W. 
George  M.  Wilson,  Merchant. 
Mary  Ward.  ux.  Moses  W. 
Eliza  Winthrop. 

William  Wliite,  Silversmith. 
Solomon  White,  Colored  man. 
James  D.  Wallace,  Merchant. 
Susan  Matilda  Whetten,  s. 
Cath.    Maria    Wheeler,    ux.    Heze- 

kiah  W. 
Elizabeth  Wentwath,  w. 
Sally  Ann  Wardle,  s. 
Catharine  Watson,  s. 
Eliza  Welling,  ux.  James  W. 
Eliza  Waters,  ux.  T.  I.  Waters. 
Susan  Woolley,  ux.  Brittain  L.  W. 
Effingham  W.  WallgTove,  Merchant 

Tailor. 
Samuel  White,  Silversmith. 
Soi^hia  Ann  White,  s. 
Maria  Waud,  ux.  M.  Waud. 
Jacob  Walton. 

Sarah  Walton,  ux.  Jacob  W. 
Martha  W.  Willis,  s. 

—  WallgTove,  ux.  Eff.  W.  W. 
Ruth  Young,  s. 

-John  Young,  Glass-cutter. 
Margaret  Young,  ux.  John  Y. 


490 


HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 


XI 


COMMUNICANTS     IN    1845-1868 

Out  of  the  list  of  communicants  found  by  Dr.  Tyng  in  April,  1845,  the 
following  twenty-five  persons  only  remained  April,  1868 : 


Samuel  M.  Cornell. 
Wm.  Whitloek,  Jr. 
Adolphus  Lane. 
Mrs.  Jane  M.  Lane. 
Mrs.  Elisa  M.  Priest. 
Frances  B.  Priest. 
Maria  M.  Priest. 
Louisa  Priest. 
Mrs.  Ann  Gillet. 
Mrs.  Maria  M.  Cook. 
Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Arcularius. 
Mrs.  George  St.  John. 
Mrs.  Caroline  E.  Brown. 


Mrs.  Hester  Huestis. 
John  McLaren. 
Mrs.  Ellen  McLaren. 
Mrs.  Benj.  Farrington. 
Mrs.  David  L.  Sayre. 
Mary  L.  Everdell. 
Mrs.  Maria  Bonnett. 
Mrs.  Jane  Valentine. 
Mrs.  D.  H.  Brooks. 
Peter  Morris. 
Susan  Needham. 
Catherine  Morgan. 


XII 


PARISHIONERS  IN  1846 

The  original  of  this  list  is  in  Volume  II.  of  the  Vestry  Records  in  the 
handwriting  of  Frederick  S.  Winston,  clerk  of  the  vestry. 


Mrs.  Stephen  Holt, 

85  Beekman. 
A.  Wyekoff, 

87  P.eekman. 
W.  Shatzel, 

87  Beekman. 
Mrs.  Knapp, 

119   Beekman. 
Mrs.  Babcock, 

76    Beekman. 

R.  B.  Cumen, 

76  Beekman. 
J.  N.  Sayre, 

70  Beekman. 
C.  F.  Bradley, 

66  Beekman. 
Mrs.  Bolan, 

75  Beekman. 
E.  C.  Boughton, 

53  Beekman. 
J.  Hunt, 

50  Beekman. 
Mrs.  Kimberley, 

50    Beekman. 

Mrs.  Huestis, 
49   Beekman. 


Mrs.  Cornwall, 
21    Beekman. 
Mrs.  Storm, 

19  Beekman. 
Wm.  Gale, 

36    Beekman. 

N.  S.  West, 

36   Beekman. 
S.  H.  Fleetwood, 

45   Beekman. 
B.  R.  Barlow, 

48    Cliff. 
Mrs.  Burroughs, 

28   Cliff. 
—  Stevens, 

25   Cliff. 

Geo.  L.  Cook, 

23    Cliff. 
H.  C.  Minor, 

20  Cliff. 

A.  F.  Egerton, 

48    Fulton. 

Wm.   Everdell, 

104   Fulton. 

P.  H.  Kingsland, 
197   Fulton. 


APPENDICES 


491 


Samuel  Gilford, 

126   William. 

Doct.  Gilford, 

126    William. 
Jos,  Mitchell, 

52   William. 
Mrs.  Ashfield, 

198    William. 
Mr.  BuiT, 

88   Pearl. 
H.  Wanger, 

2.5    Pearl. 

—  Miller, 

380  Pearl. 

—  Bliss, 

300  Pearl. 

—  Wilson, 

341   Pearl. 

Geo.  F.  Bunce, 

321    Pearl. 
John  Robbins, 

Pearl. 
John  Stewart,  Jr., 

State. 

—  Hannenan, 

3  Morris. 
G.   Curtis, 

7  Greenwich. 
J.  Dibble, 

47  Greenwich. 
Dr.  J.  Wheeler, 

29  Greenwich. 
James  Knight, 

300   Greenwich. 

—  Houghton, 

314  Greenwich. 
S.  S.  Bliss, 

295  Greenwich. 
Eli  Kirk, 

505  Greenwich. 
Thos.  B.  Lippitt, 

696  Greenwich. 
David  Clarkson, 

31  Broadway. 
Misses  Clarkson, 

33  Broadway. 
G.  St.  John, 

37  Broadway. 
S.  K.   St.  John, 

37  Broadway. 
J.  Havin, 

37    Broadway. 

Thos.  Walke, 
72    Broadway. 

N.  Hayden, 

48   Broadway. 

Thos.  Dugan, 

470    Broadway. 
Wm.  Irving, 
110    Liberty. 

Hon.  Chandler  Ellis, 
Howard    Hotei. 


S.  A.  Faidkner, 
32  Dey. 

S.  M.  Lent, 

50  Dey. 

B.  L.  Woolley, 

40  Vesey. 
Dwight  Woodbiuy, 
38    Vesey. 

Miss  Baxter, 

22  Vesey. 
Miss  Maynard, 
22   Vesey. 

—  Vinton, 

22  Vesey. 

—  Baldwin, 

22  Vesey. 

—  Callahan, 

22  Vesey. 

—  King, 

22  Vesey. 
A.  K.  Strong, 

Aster    House. 
Mrs.  Clarke, 

55   Ann. 

G.  S.  Wai-eham, 

55    Ann. 

A.  M.  Tredwell, 

52  Vesey. 

H.  Waterman, 

42  Vesey. 
P.  Mallett, 

12  Cortlandt. 
Mary   Stewart, 

13  John. 

Jas.  Van  Nostrand, 

27  Barclay. 
T.  M.  Clark, 

45  Barclay. 
Ch.  T.   Seymour, 

47  Barclay. 
Dan'l  Morgan, 

47   Barclay. 

Dr.  Thos.  F.'  Cock, 

15   Murray. 

Mrs.  Cock, 

15  Murray. 
J.  Cowing, 

7   Murray. 
Miss  Ross, 

37  Murray. 
P.  G.  Arcularius, 

79   Warren. 

J.  C.  Booth. 

35  Murray. 

Miss  Haines, 

68   Warren. 

Mrs.  Rossiter, 

42   Warren. 

John  Antlion, 

36  Warren. 
Mrs.  Hopkins. 

78   Warren. 


492 


HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S    CHURCH 


Mrs.  Baker, 

6  Warren. 
Mrs.  Smith, 

6   Warren. 
Simeon  Draper, 

10   Warren. 
Ogden  Haggerty, 

8  Warren. 
Robt.  Lewin, 

Park    PI.    House. 

N.  Rutgers, 

1G3  Chambers. 
Jas.  H.  Braine, 

156  Chambers. 
R.  Slocum, 

129   Chambers. 

H.  Peck, 

120   Chambers. 

F.  S.  Winston, 

117   Chambers. 

G.  M.  Hanners, 

12    Chambers. 
Miss  FoUansbee, 

101  Chambers. 
G.  Babcoek, 

37   Chambers. 
Miss  Mitchell, 

17  Park  Place. 
J.  S.  Pendleton, 

American  Hotel. 

C.  A.  Shepherd, 

American  Hotel. 
Jas.  R.  Ware, 

American  Hotel. 
F.  Whitney, 

46  CHflf. 
J.  B.   Cunningham, 

84  West. 
—  Farrell, 

110  West   P>'dway. 
Henry  An  slice, 

119   Franklin. 
N.  Merrill, 

91    Franklin. 
F.   A.   Huntington, 

44   Franklin. 
T.  L.  Callender, 

46    Franklin. 
P.  R.  Bonnett, 

25  North   Moore. 
Mrs.  Anderson, 

97  North   Moore. 
Miss  E.  Beers, 

127   Hudson. 
Dr.  Green, 

165    Hudson. 
Jas.  C.  Lawrence, 

126   Hudson. 
A.  Walker, 

ll.S   Hudson. 
Mrs.  Tracy, 

18  Beach. 


W.   Whitlock,   Jr., 

32   Beach. 
Jno.  C.  Hamilton, 

28    Beach. 
■ —  Aymar, 

26   Varick. 
John  McLaren, 

5  Walker. 
R.  W.  Newman, 

Atheneum  Hotel. 

—  Marshall, 

Atheneum  Hotel. 

—  Munroe, 

Atheneum  Hotel. 
F.  Brown, 

39   Franklin. 

—  Beach, 

52  York,  Jersey  City. 
Jas.  M.  Hoyt, 

Essex,   Jersey  City. 
Josiah  Kendall, 

37  N.   of  5th  Avenue. 
R.  B.  Brown. 

216   22d   St. 

Louis  Pignolet, 

222   22d   St. 

Mrs.  Sarah  Seaton, 

105   w.    13th. 
Wm.   J.  Masterton, 

77   12th. 

Jas.  D.  Fitch,  M.D., 

15  Stuyvesant  Place. 

—  ]\Ierwin, 

94  Clinton  Place. 

Sam'l  M.  Cornell, 

182   10th    St. 

—  Caldwell, 

184    10th    St. 

—  Merritt, 

New  York  Hotel. 
A.  M.  Arcularius, 

49  St.  Mark's  PI. 
S.  Warriner, 

15  Hammond  St. 
Israel  Russel, 

37  Gt.   Jones. 

—  Mullen, 

499   Houston. 

John  L.  Norwood, 

79   Bleecker. 

—  Bane, 

25   5th   St. 

Albert  Southmayd, 
49  Amity. 

Mrs.  Racliel  H.  Thurston, 

7   Bond. 
Fred  H.  Trowbridge, 

135  Prince. 
Wm.  S.  Wilson, 

16  Varick  Place. 
Mrs.  Maria  Neville, 

48   Hammersly. 


APPENDICES 


493 


Mrs.  Catherine  Yeoman, 

140  Sullivan. 

David  L.  Savre, 

114   Sullivan. 

—  Rogers, 

1.53  Wooster. 

—  Stearns. 
459    Broome. 

F.  A.  Priest, 

34  Dominicli. 
Chas.  F.  Bnnner, 

33  Mercer. 

Mrs.  Elisabeth  Micheon, 

23   Wooster. 

Eliza  Needham, 

85  Green. 

Adolphus  Lane, 

25  Green. 

—  Leonard, 

76  Charlton. 
Jos.  Lawrence, 

199    Eighth    St. 

Thos.  M.  Adriauee, 

10  Second   St. 
Miss  Dunham, 
307  Houston. 

W.  R.  Golding, 

Chatham. 

Jared  L.  Moore, 

112   Chatham. 
Jas.  W.  Dominick, 

146   E.   Broadway. 
Francis  Dominick, 

156  E.  Broadway. 
Sophia  Roorbach, 

102   E.   Broadway. 
Miss  Cosis. 

169  E.  Broadway. 
A.  Bnckham, 

73  Pitt. 
Abraham  G.  Valentine, 

187   Henry. 

—  Frazer, 

221    Madison. 
Miss  Price. 

119   Madison. 
Miss  Patton, 

167  Madison. 
Miss  Seaman, 

75   Madison. 
John  D.  Abrams, 

78   Madison. 
Channcev  Ives. 

34  V,  "Madison. 
Alfred  Underbill,  M.D., 

3  Madison. 

—  Smith. 

86  Madison. 

—  Williams, 

209  Madison. 

TSr.  R.  Bnnce, 
5  Madison. 


—  Scott, 

175   ^Madison. 

Hiram  Ketehum, 

10  Rutgers. 

Dan'l  H.  Brooks, 

37   Rutgers. 

Mrs.  Maria  A.  Brush, 

55   Henry. 

Geo.  C.  Morgan, 

44  Pike. 
Jas.  A.  Burtus, 

81  Munroe. 

Jas.  W.  Dominick, 

5  Market. 
Andrew  Hume, 

84   Bayard. 
Dr.  John   Steams, 

84    White. 

—  Scatev. 

121    White. 

—  Kerr, 

45  White. 

E.   Smith. 

172    Elm. 

—  Lacroix, 

73  Roosevelt. 

Mrs.  Ann  Gillett, 

20  Oliver. 
James  Dominick, 

20  Oliver. 
John  Bobbins, 

Pearl. 

—  Wilson, 

341  Pearl. 

—  Bonner, 

821   Pearl. 

—  Bliss. 

300  Pearl. 

—  Biren, 

471  Pearl. 

—  Miller, 

880   Pearl. 

Mrs.  Julia  A.  Folwell, 

72   Frankfort. 
P.  A.  Hanford. 

10   Cherry. 

Samuel  Rvckman, 

18  Cherry. 

—  Moii'is, 

90  Elm. 
Peter  Morris, 

37  City  Hall   Place. 
Simeon  Kingsley, 

174  E.   Broadway. 
Jolm  Buckmaster, 

108  E.   Broadway. 
Mrs.  Jane  Anderson, 

512   Broome. 
Mrs.  Sarah  C.  Stearns, 

86  White. 
Mrs.  Hathorn, 

72  Frankfort. 


494 


HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


—  Williams, 

8  Rose. 
Oliver  B.  Tweedy, 

37   Rose. 

—  Russel, 

58  Market. 
Mrs.  Brown, 
80  Beekman. 


Abraham  CargiU, 

232  Water. 
Edw.  A.  Saunders, 

45    Charlton. 
Mrs.  Jane  Willis, 

54    Pike. 
Edmund  DaiTow, 

231    E.   Broadway. 


XIII 


INCUMBENTS     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     SCHOLARSHIP 

It  is  much  to  be  regi-etted  that  no  sufficient  data  are  in  existence  from 
which  to  compile  an  approximately  comjilete  list  of  the  many  young  men 
of  St.  George's  Church  who  have  entered  the  sacred  Ministry,  and  a  partial 
list  would  be  so  unsatisfactory  that  it  is  not  attempted.  The  following 
named,  however,  Avere  students  at  the  General  Theological  Seminary  as  in- 
cumbents of  the  St.  George's  Scholarship: 


Benjamin  W.  Stone 1837-38 

Archibald  Claudius  McElroy  1840-41 

Isaac  G.  Hubbard 1843-44 

Michael  Scofield 1844-45 

Stephen  Chipman  Thrall ...  1849-50 
Josiah  Mulford  Hedges ....  1850-53 

Otto  Sievers-Barten 1853-55 

Franklin  Samuel  Rising ....  1858-59 

Henry  Yates  Satterlee 1865-66 

Isaac  Van  Winkle 1866-68 

Hamilton  Lee 1871-72 

Zina   Doty 1872-73 

WilHam  H.  .Jones 1877-78 

William  Bamford  Burrows.  .1878-79 

Joseph  Carter  Acomb 1879-80 

John  Herbert  Edwards 1880-82 

George  Deming  Wright 1882-85 

Adolph  Martin  Lewish 1885-86 

Albert  William  Manifold. .  .1886-87 


George  Henry  Young 1887-88 

.John  Chas.  Stephenson 1888-91 

Frederick  Henry  Farrar 1891-92 

Nehemiah  D.  Van  Syckel. .  .1891-92 
Andrew  Ellsworth  Dunham  1892-93 

John  Keble  Burleson 1892-93 

St.  Clair  Hester 1892-93 

Elias  Boudinot  Stockton 1893-94 

William  Russell  McKim 1894-95 

Herbert  Lee  Gaylord 1895-97 

George  Francis  Langdon. .  .1897-99 

Charles  Lewis  Gomph 1901-02 

Jolm  Creighton  Seagle 1901-02 

William  Henry  Standring.  .1902-04 
Floyd  Baker  Van  Keuren. .  .1904-07 
James  Steedman  Holland. .  .1907-09 
Gerald  Arthur  Cunningham  1909-10 
Emmons  Parkman  Burrill.  .1910-11 


APPENDICES 


495 


XIV 
THE     CHAPEL    FUND 

SUBSCRIBERS  TO  THE  PURCHASE  OF  NO.   4  RUTHERFORD  PLACE 

(1910) 


J.  Pierpont  Morgan. 
R.  Fulton  Cutting. 
J.  W.  Markoe. 
Charles  S.  Brown. 
John  Seely  Ward. 


William  Edmond  Curtis. 
H.  H.  Pike. 
William  Foulke. 
Henry  W.  Munroe. 


SUBSCRIBERS   TO  THE   CHAPEL   BUILDING  FUND 
(To  Oct.  1,  1811) 


Mr.  W.  C.  Ahrens. 
Rev.  Henry  Anstice. 
Miss  H.  D.  Atterbury. 
Mrs.  L.  B.  Atterbui-y. 
Miss  Ella  S.  Beale. 
Mrs.  S.  J.  Bensel. 
Mrs.  Frederic  H.  Betts. 
Mrs.  Wm.  H.  Birckhead. 
Mrs.  L.  Bobling. 
Mr.  George  T.  Bonner. 
Miss  Mary  E.  Braekett. 
Dr.  Ethel  D.  Brown. 
Miss  M.  A.  Stewart  Brown. 
Mr.  W.  Lanman  Bull. 
Mrs.  Jemima  Chalmers. 
Mrs.  E.  A.  S.  Clarke. 
Miss  Louise  Clarke. 
Mrs.  John  H.  Cole. 
Mrs.  Thomas  G,  Cook. 
Miss  Elizabeth  Curtis. 
Mr.  F.  Kingsbury  Curtis. 
Miss  Mary  A.  Curtis. 
Mrs.   Hy.   T.  Davis. 
Mrs.  Loekwood  de  Forest. 
Mr.  Bayard  Dominick. 
Mr.  Geo.  F.  Dominick. 
Mrs.  Wm.  Gayer  Dominick. 
Mr.  Tracy  Dows. 
Mrs.  Carroll  Dunham. 
Mrs.  Herman  Ellis. 
Miss  S.  V.  R.  Erving. 


The  Misses  Faris. 
Mrs.  Helen  Ferner. 
Miss  Elizabeth  D.  Ferguson. 
Mr.  Henrv  Ferguson. 
Mrs.  H.  R.  Freeland. 
•  Miss  L.   G.  Freeland. 
G.  F.  S.  Embroideiy  Class. 
Mr.  Jas.  T.  Gardiner. 
Mrs.  C.  F.  Gardner. 
Mrs.  Wm.  T.  Gibb. 
Mr.  F.  L.  Gould. 
Miss  Edith  Gourlie. 
Miss  Eliza  C.  Gourlie. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Greenough. 
Mrs.  W.  P.  Hamilton. 
Mrs.  Harman. 
Mrs.  Hy.  P.  Havens. 
The  Misses  Havens. 
Mr.  James  E.  Heath. 
Mrs.  P.  J.  Heilmann. 
Miss  Emilie  M.  Heiser. 
Mr.  John  J.  Heiser. 
Miss  R.  M.  Heiser. 
Mrs.  E.  C.  Henderson. 
Miss  M.  W.  Henderson. 
Mrs.  Christian  A.  Herter. 
Rev.  Wm.  Cleveland  Hicks. 
Mrs.  Richard  M.  Hoe. 
Miss  Constance  Holt. 
Mrs.  Geo.  C.  Holt. 
Miss  Sylvia  Holt. 


496 


HISTORY    OF    ST.   GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


Miss  Clotilde  S.  Hyatt. 
Mrs,  Augustus  L.  Hyde. 
Mr.  J.  Morgan  Jones. 
Miss  Julia  G.  Keim. 
Mr.  David  KeiDpel. 
Mrs.  Frederick  Ke^Dpel. 
Dr.  F.  P.  Kinnicutt. 
Miss  Helen  L.  Knight. 
Mr.  Woleott  G.  Lane. 
Mrs.  Effingham  Lawrence. 
Mrs.  J.  T.  Leavitt. 
Miss  Margaret  D.  Leverich. 
Hon.  Seth  Low. 
Mrs.  Seth  Low. 
Mrs.  G.  C.  W.  Lowrey. 
Miss  Janet  H.  MacLaren. 
Miss  M.  McK. 
Mr.  H.  H.  Man. 
Mrs.  M.  A.  Manly. 
Mrs.  Henry  A.  Mather. 
Mrs.  EdAvard  F.  Mathews. 
Miss  Charlotte  McCosh, 
Miss  Margaret  McKenna. 
Miss  B.  F.  Marshall. 
Miss  C.  E.  Marshall. 
Miss  J.  P.  Marshall. 
Mr.  A.  W.  Miller. 
Miss  Emily  C.  Miner. 
Mrs.  Frank  B.  Miriek. 
Mr.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan. 
Mrs.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan. 
Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan,  Jr. 
Mrs.  J.  P.  Morgan,  Jr. 
Miss  K.  T.  Moore. 
Miss  Bessie  M.  Morrow. 
Mothers'  Meeting. 
Miss  Isabelle  W.  Munroe. 
Miss  Edith  Notman. 
Miss  Helen  W.  Oreutt. 
Mr.  Thos.  B.  Peck. 
Mr.  Edmund  Penfold. 
Mr.   H.   H.   Pierce. 
Miss  Grace  H.  Potter. 
Mr.  Theodore  H.  Price. 
R.  Percy  Pyne,  Family  of. 
Mr.  William  Raueh. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Reichert. 

The  Misses  Reynolds. 

Miss  Harriet  B.  Robb,  Estate  of. 

Mr.  Thos.  Robins. 

Miss  Ella  E.  Russell. 

Mr.  Jolm  W.  Russell. 

Mrs.  Geo.  B.  Satterlee. 

Mr.  Herbert  L.  Satterlee. 

Mrs.  H.  L.  Satterlee. 

Miss  E.  H,  Schenkberg. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Schieffelin. 

Miss  Annie  Sing. 

Mrs.  E.  T.  Smith. 

Miss  M.   E.   Smith 

Miss  A.  F.  Spofford. 

Mrs.  J.  Noble  Stearns. 

Dr.  M.  Allen  Starr. 

Mrs.  Campbell  Steward. 

Miss  Anna  H.  Swan. 

Miss  A.  M.  A.  Thornton. 

Miss  A.  M.  Thurston. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  C.  Tiedeman. 

Mrs.  Dexter  Tiffany. 

Miss  Louise  G.  Tower. 

Mr.  Donald  C.  Townsend. 

Miss  Virginia  C.  Townsend. 

Miss  Anne  Tracy. 

Mrs.   Charles   E.   Tracy. 

Miss  Helen  D.  Tracy. 

Miss  Mary  L.  Van  Wagenen. 

Mr.  H.  C".  von  Post. 

Miss  M.  V.  Wallis. 

Mr.  Allen  Wardwell. 

Miss  Lena  A.  Weber. 

Miss  Mathilde  E.  Weber. 

Mrs.  and  Misses  Weidenfeld. 

Mr.  Wm.  H.  Wheelock. 

Mrs,  George  C.  Wilde. 

Miss  J.  C,  Wilde. 

Mrs.  B.  Wilson. 

Miss  Sophia  Tracy  Wilson. 

Mr.  G.  Owen  Winston. 

Mr.  Benjamin  Winter. 

Miss  Mary  R.  Winters. 

Mr.  Pierre  Jay  Wurts. 

Miss  V.  C.  Young. 


'-"^A- 


M^ 


^^^l^iMn^^.  ^ 


MEMORIAL      CHAPEL,     1911 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  Rev.  Dr.,  348;  letter 
of  regret,  358. 

Acheson,  E.  C,  Rev.,  324,  465. 

Aitken,  W.  H.  M.  H.,  Rev.,  missioner, 
305. 

Albertis,  J.  A.,  choir-master,  295. 

Alexandria  Theological  Seminary,  414, 
220;   closed  during  war,  224. 

American  Bible  Society,  116,  121,  128, 
237. 

American  Church  Missionary  Society, 
135;  organization  of  and  distinctive 
principles,  218;  auxiliary  to  Board, 
of  Missions,  220. 

American  Sunday-school  Union,   116. 

American  Tract  Society,  116,  119,  129, 
159,  237. 

Anderson,  Nicholas,  sexton,  legacy  to 
church,   109. 

Andros,  Edmond,  Governor,  10;  im- 
prisoned,  10. 

Anstiee,  Henry,  175,  178,  192,  196, 
206,  443. 

Anstiee,  Henry,  Rev.  Dr.,  389. 

Anthon,   Henry,   Rev.   Dr.,    145,    156. 

Anthon,  John,  437. 

Arcularius,  Andrew  M.,  236,  442. 

Arcularius,  Peter  G.,  175,  177,  206; 
death  of  and  tribute  of  Vestry,  208; 
236,  444. 

Assistant  ministers,  reunion  of,  345. 

Atkinson,  John  R.,  Rev.,  467. 

Auclminty,  Samuel,  assistant  in  Trin- 
ity, 21;  special  duty  in  St.  George's, 
25;  catechizing  of  negroes,  30; 
elected  rector  of  Trinity,  30;  re- 
tired from  duty,  33;   died,  34. 

Babcock,  Francis  M.,  234. 

Baker,  Stephen,  388. 

Balch,  L.  P.  W.,  Rev.  Dr.,  156,  185. 

Barclay,  Henry,  rector  of  Trinity,  21 ; 

death  of,  30. 
Battalion  Club,  329,  354. 
Beach,  Abraham,  Rev.,  40,  41. 
Bedell,   G.   T.,   Rt.   Rev.   Dr.,    156,    185, 

263,  265,  305. 
32 


Bell,  presented  by  T.  H.  Smith,  91,  92; 
to  be  rung  at  all  fire  alarms,  106; 
later  hung  in  Fourteenth  Street 
Chapel,  now  in  rectory  yard,  93; 
ringing  complained  of,  343. 

Bellomont,  Earl  of.  Governor,  hostility 
of  to  Church,  16. 

Beneficences  of  St.  George's,   101. 

Benjamin,  William  H.,  Rev.  Dr.,  267. 

Berrian,  William,  Rev.  Dr.,  156,  180, 
185;   "Facts  against  Fancy,"  216. 

Betts,  F.  H.,  342,  345,  363,  453. 

Bequests,  109,  151,  339,  381,  392. 

Bierck,  J.   G.,  organist,  295,  303,   317. 

Birckhead,  Hugh,  Rev.  Dr.,  minis- 
ter-in-charge,  362 ;  elected  rector, 
365;  letter  of  acceptance,  370;  mar- 
riage, 384;  biographical  sketch,  429, 
469. 

Birckhead,  Malbone  H.,  Rev.,  470. 

Blackball,  camp  at,  371. 

Blesch,  Otto,  architect,  168,  207. 

Blodgett,  William  T.,  234,  241,  246; 
death  of,  251;  447. 

Bloodgood,  Thomas,  102,  436. 

Bogardus,  Everardus,  Domine,  3. 

Bogardus,  Robert,  434. 

Bolman,   M.   A.,   Miss,   316. 

Bolton,  C.  W.,  Rev.,  assistant,  225, 
226,  227,  458. 

Bowden,  John,  Rev.,  32,  35;  sei'vice  in 
St.  George's,  his  generous  behavior, 
its  later  reward,  56. 

Boys'  Club,  296,  328. 

Brackett,  J.  W.,  77,  435. 

Bradford,  William,  first  printer,   20. 

Bradish,  Luther,  Hon.,   176. 

Brady,  John,  Rev.,  minister-in-charge, 
55,'  56,  57,  59;  instituted,  61:  con- 
troversy with  Dr.  Kewley,  64;  in 
charge  in  rector's  absence,  68 ;  resig- 
nation of,  71;   sketch  of,  456. 

Briggs,  C.  A.,  Rev.  Dr.,  340. 

Bristow,  G€orge  F.,  organist,   196. 

Brooks,  Arthur,  Rev.,  279,  285. 

Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew,  conven- 
tion   of,    316;    withdrawal    of    topic 


498 


HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


from     programme,     protest     of     St. 

George's,   340. 
Brown,  Charles  S.,  392,  456. 
Brown,  J.  Eastburn,  Rev.,  242,  461. 
Bro^vn,  Richard  B.,  441. 
Brown,  Stewart,  149,  440. 
Brookman,  Donald  M.,  Rev.,  469. 
Brydges,    Ralph    L.,    Rev.,    283,    355, 

463. 
Buchanan,    Anselan,    Rev.,    228,    272, 

463. 
Bull,  Amos,  schoolmaster,  35. 
Bull,  W.   L.,   322,  453. 
Burtus,  James  A.,  154,  156,  167,  437. 
Butler,    Nicholas    Murray,    Pres.,    345, 

358. 

Callender,  Thomas  L.,  175,  206,  442. 

Cambreling,  Stephen,  176. 

Cambridge  Divinity  School,  372. 

Camp,  N.  W.,  Rev.,  197,  458. 

Camp  Rainsford,  372,  381,  386. 

Canfield,  J.  H.,  Prof.,  348. 

Carey,  ordination,   145,  416. 

Carow,  Isaac,  54,  92,  98,  432. 

Carter,  John  F.,  Rev.,  466. 

Cemetery,  Greenwood,  proposition  of 
declined,   149. 

Cemetery,  N.  Y.  Bay,  St.  George's 
lots  in,  352. 

Cemetery,  Trinity,  purchased,   149. 

Centennial  Celebration;  history  to  be 
published,  389  j  general  plan  for, 
390. 

Centennial  History  of  the  Dioc.  of 
N.  Y.,  extract  from,  309. 

Chancel  furniture  given  to  St.  Mary^s 
Church,  Manhattanville,  103. 

Chancel,  improvements  in,  103. 

Chandeliers,  of  old  St.  George's,  given 
to  St.  Paul's  Church,  Oxford,  70. 

Chanting,  directions  of  vestry  regard- 
ing,  58. 

Chapel  of  the  Bread  of  Life,  begin- 
nings of,  227;  building  erected. 
Fourteenth  Street,  for  joint  use 
with  th,e  German  Mission,  227,  228; 
great  growth  of  work,  various 
agencies,  228,  272;  suggestion  of 
sale,  273;  sale  directed,  274;  ob- 
jections to  removal  of  school  to  Six- 
teenth Street,  274;  transfer  of  some 
members,  sale  consummated,  275. 

Chapel  of  Free  Grace,  Nineteenth 
Street,  erected,  consecrated,  226; 
German  mission  in,  226,  272 ;  pro- 
posal to  sell,  275,  281 ;  services  ter- 
minated, 282;   sale  of,  286;   pews  in 


St.  George's  provided  for  members 
of  chapel,  284. 

Chapel  of  Living  Waters,  227. 

Chapel  (German  Mission),  ground 
bought,  new  building.  Fourteenth 
Street,    243;    work   abandoned,   272. 

Charity  School,  founded,  26;  succes- 
sive schoolmasters,  building  erected, 
destroyed  by  iire,  rebuilt,  annual 
collections  for  support,  26;  an- 
nouncements in  papers,  27;  incor- 
porated, reorganized,  name  changed 
to  Trinity  School,  27;  collection  for, 
35. 

Chase,  Carlton,  Rt.  Rev.,  168;  conse- 
crated St.  George's,   185. 

Chase,  Philander,  Rt.  Rev.,  145; 
founder  of  Gambler  and  Kenyon, 
146. 

Chauncey,  Egisto  F.,  Rev.,  468. 

Chester,  W.  S.,  organist,  317,  328. 

Children's  Service,  325. 

Chipman,  Tapping  R.,  Rev.,  225,  460. 

Choir-room,  enlarged,   328. 

Cholera  in  New  York,  132. 

Choristers  trained  from  congregation, 
353. 

Christian  Commission,  during  war,  in- 
terest of  St.  George's  in,  222. 

Christian  Unity,  Dr.  Milnor's  last  ser- 
mon,   158. 

Church,  first  structure,  3. 

Church  in  the  fort,  3,  4;  alternate  ser- 
vices of  Dutch  and  English,  9;  aban- 
doned by  Dutch  congregation,  12; 
pulled  down,  rebuilt,  secularized,  re- 
fitted, destroyed  by  fire,  12. 

Churches,  in   1811,  45. 

Church  du  Saint  Esprit,  45;  hospi- 
tality to  St.  George's,  62;  thanks 
returned,    70. 

Church  of  England  in  New  York, 
royal  instructions  as  to  its  estab- 
lishment, 11;  reluctance  of  assem- 
bly to  provide  maintenance,  12;  li- 
cense to  purchase  land,  14;  man- 
agers of  the  aft'airs  of.  Act  of  In- 
corporation,   Trinity    Church,    15. 

Church  of  the  Epiphany,  310. 

Church  of  Holy  Evangelists,  132;  old 
St.  George's  conveyed  to,  on  condi- 
tions noted,  192;  unreasonable  de- 
mands on  Trinity  Church,  corpora- 
tion   dissolved,    212. 

Church  of  the  Incarnation,  hospitality 
tendered  to  after  its  fire,   285. 

Church  of  the  Redemption,  use  of  ten- 
dered, 235. 


INDEX 


499 


Church  of  the  Reformation.  310. 

Churchyard,  enlargement  of,  56;  addi- 
tion of   Burling   property,   64. 

Citizens  Union,  co-operation  with,  344. 

City  Mission  Society,  Dr.  Milnor 
made  life  member,  105;  incorpor- 
ated, 131 ;  work  in  Vandewater 
Street;  protest  of  St.  George's,  131; 
managers   named   by  vestry,    149. 

City  mission  work  of  St.  George's, 
monograph  describing,  225. 

Civil  War,  loyalty  of  rector,  221 ;  atti- 
tude of  St.  George's  financially,  223 ; 
rector's  sermon  on  Christian  Loyal- 
ty, 222;  draft  riots  in  New  York, 
close  of  struggle,  national  thanks- 
giving. President  Lincoln  murdered, 
222;    sermon  bv  Dr.   Tyng,   223. 

Clark.   A.   Corning,   294. 

Clark,  Thomas  M.,  Rt.  Rev.,  called  as 
assistant,  171;  social  aspects  of  re- 
ligion in  St.  George's,  327. 

Clerical  Annuity   Society,    133. 

Clergy,  at  Revolvition,  chiefly  royal- 
ists, but  many  patriots,  32;  suf- 
ferings of,   33. 

Clergy  House,  293. 

Clerical  Staff,  325,  374. 

Cliff  Street,  widening,  opposed  and  de- 
feated,   102. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  46,  54;  death  of, 
106;  request  of  Common  Council  to 
appropriately  notice,  106;  Bp.  Ho- 
bart  declined,  sermon  by  Dr.  ^lilnor, 
107. 

Clock,  procured  for  tower,  93,  148;  in 
new  St.  George's,  236. 

Collegiate  idea  of  pastors  in  common, 
26. 

Collister,  Thomas,  sexton,  petition  of, 
36;  granted.  37. 

Colonies,  English,  plan  for  consolida- 
tion of,  10;  condition  of  the  Church 
in,   32. 

Colve,   Anthony,   Governor,   9. 

Common  Prayer,  standard  book  of, 
presented   to    Church,   338. 

Confirmations,  in  St.  George's,  41, 
324. 

Contributions,  diocesan  attempt  to 
dictate,  239;  protest  of  St.  George's, 
240. 

Cooke,  James  W.,  Rev.,  138,  148;  sec- 
retary of  Foreign  Committee,  150; 
rector  at  Bristol,  R.  I.,  150;  sketch 
of,  457. 

Cooke,  W.  H.,  Rev.,  277. 

Cooper,  Gerardus  A.,  98,  436. 


Cooper,  Myles.  president  King's  Col- 
lege, 28;" fled  at  Revolution,  33. 

Cornbury,  Lord,  Governor,  friendly  to 
Church,    17. 

Cornell,  Samuel,  M.,  175,  178,  206, 
442. 

Cornwall,  N.  E.,  Rev.,  462. 

Corporate  life,  sense  of  in  St.  George's, 
367. 

Crane,    Theodore,    234. 

Creeds,  Dr.  Rainsford  on,   360. 

Crocker,   William   T.,   Rev.,  465. 

Crommelin,  Robert,  architect  of  Chapel, 
23;   offer  of  clock  for  Chapel,  29. 

Cunningham,   Gerald  A.,  Rev.,  471. 

Curtis,  William  E.,  Hon.,  276;  death 
of,  277:   sketch  of,  451. 

Curtis,  William  Edmond,  388,  392, 
436. 

Cutting,  R.  F.,  322,  323,  324,  329,  342, 
345,   355,   356,   365,   392,   452. 

Daily  Advertiser,  extract  from,  39. 

Danne,  Frederick,  bequest,  381. 

Davis,  William  W.,  Rev.,  466. 

Dawson,  W.  J.,  Rev.  Dr.,  missioner, 
379. 

Deaconess  House,  provided,  316;  re- 
moval, 326 ;  endowment  for,  839, 
343 ;  permanent  building  presented, 
and  dedicated,  351;  use  of  roof  gar- 
den, 386. 

Deaconess,  Miss  J.  E.,  Forneret  order- 
ed, 308;  Miss  Clara  H.  Simpson, 
Miss  H.  von  Brockdorff,  326. 

De  Vries,  David,  3. 

Dibble,  Henry,  organist,  196. 

Diocesan  Journals  of  N.  Y.,  reprint  of, 
130. 

Dix,  Morgan,  Rev.  Dr.,  267,  269,  278, 
279. 

Doane,   George  W.,   Rt.   Rev.,   134. 

Doane,  W.  C,  Rt.  Rev.,  355. 

Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 116,  118;  Green  Bay  mission, 
133;  reorganization  in  1835,  Dr. 
Milnor's  agency  therein,  134. 

Dominick,  Francis,  54,  433. 

Dominick,  W.  G.,   272,  450. 

Dongan.   Thomas,   Governor,   10. 

Dorr,  Benjamin,  Rev.  Dr.,  135. 

Dows,  David,  252,  260,  262,  271,  273, 
276.  281,  294,  299;  Mrs.,  bequest 
of,  371;  448. 

Dramatic  and  Literary  Society,  354. 

Dugan,  Thomas,  sexton,   178. 

Dutch  (Reformed  Church),  3,  4,  9; 
new   church   on   Garden   Street,    12; 


500 


HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


incorporated,  13;  cordial  relations 
with  Episcopalians,  36. 
Dyer,  Heman,  Rev.  Dr.,  tribute  to  Dr. 
Tyng,  195;  assistant  minister,  197; 
resignation,  208 ;  descriptions  of  Dr. 
Tvng,  209,  210,  211;  again  assistant, 
224;  on  free  St.  George's,  309; 
sketch  of,   458. 

Eastburn,  J.  W.,  monument  to  mem- 
ory of,  94. 

Eastburn,  Manton,  Et.  Rev.,   151. 

Easton,  Charles  J.,  234. 

Eccleston,  J.  Houston,  Rev.  Dr.,  elec- 
ted  rector,   declined,   285. 

Edwards,  Frank  E.,  Rev.,  465. 

Edwards,  A.  H.  P.,  Mrs.,  294. 

Eidlitz,  Leopold,  architect,  168,  205, 
207,  234,  237,  242,  243,  293. 

Ely,  David  J.,  448. 

Emery,  M.  L.  and  H.  G.,  architects, 
360. 

Emott,  James,  Judge,  opinion  of  as  to 
title,  244. 

Employment  Society,  354. 

Endo-wment,  lots  for  deeded  by  Trinity, 
57 ;  additional  lots,  04 ;  to  be  main- 
tained as  a  definite  policy,  191;  gift 
for,  311;  need  of  larger,  320;  steps 
taken  to  increase,  322;  new  build- 
ing on  Third  Avenue  property,  339 ; 
statement  of,  339;  further  growth, 
343. 

Envelope  System,  293,  306,  308,  316. 

Erben,  Henry,  organ-builder,   196. 

Erben,   Peter,   organist,   54. 

Evangelical  Education  Societv,  organ- 
ized,  220. 

Evangelical  Knowledge  Society,  217, 
220. 

Evangelical  Principles,  86,  163,  214, 
221;  Bp.  Potter's  pastoral  of  1865, 
238. 

Evangelical   Societies.   217. 

Executive  Committee,  of  vestry, 
created,   244,   291. 

Festival,  St.  George's  Day,  381. 

Financial  Statement,  286. 

Fleischhacker,  J.  C.  Rev.,  German 
Mission,  227,  242,  271,  272,  461. 

Fletcher,  Benjamin,  Governor,  11;  ef- 
forts in  behalf  of  Church  of  Eng- 
land, 12. 

Forneret,  J.  E.,  deaconess,  308. 

Fort,  erected,   2 :    church  in  the,   3. 

Foulke,  W.  D.,  Hon.,  348. 

Foulke,  William,  342,  348,  392,  454. 


Freedmen's     Relief     Association,      Dr. 

Tyng  President  of,  222. 
Freeland,  Louise  G.,  377. 
French  Church  in  New  York,  9,  11. 
Fresh-air    work,    297,    318,    354,    371, 

381;   bungalows  built,  386. 

Gambier  and  Kenyon  College,  116; 
Milnor  Professorship  therein,  146; 
Lectures  bv  Dr.  Tvng  at.  224. 

Garth,  William  H.,  Rev.,  467. 

Gazette,  The,  first  newspaper,  19;  ex- 
tracts from,  25,  27,  32,  35,  40,  69. 

General  Convention  in  St.  George's, 
277,  318. 

General  Thanksgiving,  practice  respect- 
ing,  318. 

General  Theological  Seminary,  142; 
laying  of  corner-stone,  143;  St. 
George's  Scholarship  created,  Dr. 
Milnor  a  trustee,  143 ;  parish  col- 
lections for,  143;  scholarship  room 
furnished,  pew  in  St.  George's  as- 
signed to  students,  144,  220;  incum- 
bents of  scholarship,  494. 

Gilder,  Jeannette,  301. 

Girls'  Friendiv  Society,  297. 

Gladden,  Washington,  Rev.  Dr.,  348. 

Gordon,  John,  Chaplain,  10. 

Gould,  Ezra  P.,  Rev.,  468. 

Government,  Municipal,  first,  5. 

Graham,   Richard  R.,  Rev.,  465. 

Grand  Prix,  awarded,  375. 

Greatorex,   Henry,   organist,   178. 

Greene,  John,  54,  433. 

Greer,  D.  H.,  Rt.  Rev.,  355,  384. 

Greenough,  John,  323:  Mrs.,  388. 

Griswold,  Alexander  Y.,  Rt.  Rev.,  con- 
secrated, 214,  238. 

Guarantee  Fund,  288,  306. 

Haight,  Beni'amin  I.,  Rev.  Dr.,  185. 

Haines,  William  A.,  213,  234,  276, 
446. 

Hall,   Caroline  M.,  marriage,  384. 

Hanlon,  Richard,  sexton,  339. 

Harison,  William  H.,   187. 

Harriman,  Charles  C,  Rev.,  470. 

Harriman,  Joseph  W.,  436. 

Hawks,  Francis  L.,  Rev.  Dr.,  his- 
toriographer,  116,  185. 

Hazard,  George  R.,  Rev.,  468. 

Helping  Hand,  228,  354. 

Henderson,  Elizabeth  R.,  legacy,  339. 

Henderson,  ^latthew  H.,  services  ren- 
dered, 115:  called  to  Newark,  121; 
appreciation  of  vestry,  122. 

Henshaw,  J.  P.  K.,  Rt.  Rev.,  134,  400. 


INDEX 


501 


Herron,  Gteorge  D.,  professor,  348. 

Hicks,   O.   H.,   436. 

Hildreth,  William,  schoolmaster,  26; 
report  to  S.  P.  G.,  35. 

Hill.  John  H.,  Eev.  Dr.,  88,  438. 

History  of  American  Episcopal  Church, 
Bp.  Perry,   extracts  from,   145. 

Hobart,  John  Henry,  Rt.  Eev.,  assist- 
ant minister,  40;  assistant  bishop, 
41 ;  controversy  with  Cave  Jones, 
47;  Hobart  MSS.,  66,  81;  consecra- 
tion of,  214;  letters,  84,  85,  107; 
misunderstanding  of  Dr.  Milnor, 
122;  letter  of  Dr.  M.,  124;  death 
of,  127. 

Hodges,  George,  Rev.  Dr.,  316,  367, 
368. 

Holland,  James  S.,  Rev.,  471. 

Holland,   Thomas  B.,   Rev.,   470. 

Homans,  James  E.,  Rev.,  211,  459. 

Hopkins.  Samuel,  175,  190,  191,  206, 
229,  444. 

Horse-mill,  first  place  of  worship,  3. 

Hoyt,   James   I.,   149,   439. 

Hoyt.  James  M.,  435. 

Huddleston,  William,  schoolmaster, 
26. 

Hudson  and  Fulton  commemoration, 
381. 

Hunt-er,  Governor,  antipathy  of  to 
Rector  Vesey.  19. 

Huntington,  Felix  A..  175,  443. 

Huntington,  W.  R.,  Rev.  Dr.,  355. 

Income,  and  Expenses,  statements  of, 
9.5,  286. 

Independent,  The,  Dr.  Tyng's  views  on 
rights  of  Freedmen  expressed  in, 
222. 

Industrial  School,  296. 

Inglis.  Charles,  assistant  minister,  30; 
closed  church  and  chapels,  1776,  re- 
port to  S.  P.  G.,  33 ;  elected  rector, 
34;  resigned,  37;  bishop  of  Xova 
Scotia,    portrait    of    received,    150. 

Institutional  Church,  Administration 
of  (the  book),  316,  375;  gold  medal 
awarded.  377;  should  be  carefully 
developed,  368. 

Intolerance.  Religious,  in  Xew  Amster- 
dam, 5.  6. 

Irving  Hall,  services  in  after  fire,  233, 
234;  occupied  by  Sunday-school, 
307. 

Ir\Mng.  Pierre  P..  assistant  minister, 
150','  158,  165:   sketch  of,  457. 

Ives,  Benjamin  Silliman,  Rt.  Rev., 
220. 


Jans,  Anneke.  marriage  of  daughter, 
4. 

Jardine,  George  &  Son,  builders  of 
organ,  241,  303. 

Jarv'is,  S.  F.,  Rev.,  suggested  for  rector- 
ship,  55. 

Jennev,   Robert,   chaplain,    19. 

Jenkins,  William  L.,  213,  447. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  first  president  King's 
College,  27. 

Jones,  Cave,  assistant  minister,  40; 
Hobart-Jones  controversy,  46. 

Jones,  William  A.,  parish  clerk,  112. 

Ketchttm,  Hiram,   175,  374,  443. 

Kewley,  John,  Rev.  Dr.,  elected  rector, 
59;  instituted,  61;  controversy  with 
Mr.  Brady,  64;  appeal  to  the  bishop, 
66;  visit  to  Europe,  67;  resignation 
of,  73;  letter  to  vestry,  81;  to  Bp. 
Hobart,  82;  St.  George's  surprise 
and  indignation,  a  rejwrted  incident, 
83;    sketch  of,  399. 

Kieft,  William.  Director,  3. 

King,  Gt€orge  Gordon,  388. 

King,  John,  453. 

King,   William  A.,  organist,   197. 

King's  College,  founded,  site  given  by 
Trinity,  condition  of  grant,  its  be-* 
ginnings,  27;  corner-stone  laid, 
first  commencement,  first  graduate 
Samuel  Provoost,  commencements 
regularly  held  in  St.  George's,  inter- 
est in  shown  in  England,  broad  spirit 
of  its  management,  28. 

King's  Daughters,  334. 

King's  Farm,  title  of  Church  to,  at- 
tacked, 17. 

Kitchen  Garden  Class,  296. 

Knox-Little,   Canon,    279. 

Krankbesoeckers,  with   colonists,   2. 

Laight,  Edward  W.,  54,  433. 

Lambert,  D.   R.,  435. 

Lane.    Adolphus.    175.    196,    206,    229, 

240:  death  of,  252;  373,  442. 
Lane.  Wolcott  G.,  371,  381. 
Laiuiitz.    Robert   E.,   artist   of  bust   of 

Dr.  Milnor.  160. 
Lawrance,  Thomas,  53,  435. 
Lawrence,    Isaac,    54.    433. 
Lawrence,   Joseph,    175,    191,   206,   213, 

229,  236.  444. 
Laymen's   Missionary  Movement,   388. 
Lav  Readers,  set  apart,  311. 
Lee,  Alfred,  Rt.  Rev.,  168,  265,  267. 
Leisler.   Jacob,   acting-governor,   11. 
Leonard,  Jacob,  parish  clerk,  54. 


502 


HISTORY    OF    ST.    GEORGE'S    CHURCH 


Le  Roy,  Jacob.  175,  206,  443. 

Lewis,  John,  Rev.,  466. 

Lewis,  William  H.,  Rev.,   176,  177. 

Lindley,  J.  Bryant,  301. 

Locke,  A.  H.,  Rev.,  329,  466. 

Lorillard,  Jacob,  434. 

Lovelace,  Francis,  Governor,  9. 

Low,    Seth,    342,    345,    355,    365,    388, 

454. 
Lutherans,  Attempt  to  form  a  Church, 

5;   first  church  building,   11. 

Mackay-Smith,  Alexander,  Rt.  Rev., 
279    317    359. 

Magui're,  Hugh,  Rev.,  287,  463. 

Malcolm,    Donald,    434. 

Manhattan  Island,  First  Settlement,  2. 

Markoe,  James  W.,  M.  D.,  455. 

Marshall,   Cornelia  E.,   377. 

Marshall,  F.  P.,  272. 

Marshall,  Henry  P.,  252,  280,  449. 

Marston,  Charles  Dallas,  Rev.,  called 
to  associate  rectorship,  declined, 
247. 

Mason,  Burdett,  organist,  276. 

Matlack,  R.  C,  Rev.,  criticism  by, 
306. 

May  Anniversaries,  114,  417. 

Mav,  Cornells  Jacobsen,  Director,  2. 

McConnell,   S.   D.,  Rev.   Dr.,   355. 

MeCord,  William  E.,  Rev.,  469. 

Mcllvaine,  Charles  P.,  Rt.  Rev.,  99, 
104,  134,  151,  168,  210. 

McJimsey,  J.  M.,  450. 

McKay,  Robert  B.,  Rev.,  472. 

McLaren,  H.  M.,  282. 

McVickar,  W.  N.,  Rt.  Rev.,  assistant, 
241,   400. 

Mead,   Theodore  H.,  273,  452. 

Meade,   William,  Rt.  Rev.,   168,  218. 

Meier-Smith,  Matson,  Rev.  Dr.,  244, 
462. 

Memorial  Chapel,  projected,  property 
purchased,  390;  subscribers  to,  495. 

Memorial  House,  offer  to  build,  304; 
building  begun,  307;  dedicated,  311; 
tribute  to  Charles  Tracy,  313;  de- 
scription of,  315;  improvements  in, 
323;  new  organ,  325;  pen  picture 
of.  331;  rector's  anniversary  recep- 
tion in,  355. 

Memorials  of  Dr.  Milnor  and  Dr.  Tyng, 
304. 

Men's  Club,  332,  354. 

Mercury,  New  York,  extracts  from, 
28,  29.  30,  31. 

IMichaelius,   Jonas,   first  minister,   3. 

Miel,  Ernest  de  F.,  Rev.,  465. 


Miles,  E.  F.,  Rev.,  M.D.,  295,  310, 
464. 

Millen,   Quintin,  433. 

Miller,  John,  Chaplain,  12 ;  claim  of 
to  the  "  Living  of  New  York,"  13. 

Milnor,  James,  Rev.  Dr.,  invitation  to 
St.  George's,  77;  formal  call,  78; 
Sunday  in  St.  George's,  79 ;  accept- 
ance of  call,  80 ;  instituted,  85 ;  char- 
acterization of  his  ministry,  86;  ill- 
ness of,  99 ;  achievements  of  his 
ministry,  99;  extra  parochial  criti- 
cisms, 100;  serious  illness,  104;  re- 
covery, letters  to  friends,  105;  fall 
from  Flushing  stage,  106;  mission 
to  England,  ll4;  accident  to,  118; 
impressions  of  his  visit,  119;  mis- 
understanding by  Bp.  Hobart  of  one 
address,  letter  showing  his  friendly 
relations  with,  127;  Identification 
with  Union  Societies,  128;  mission 
to  Green  Bay,  133;  secretary  Foreign 
Committee,  135;  interest  in  Genl. 
Theol.  Sem'y.,  144;  serious  illness, 
151 ;  witness  at  Onderdonk  trial, 
152;  last  engagements  and  decease, 
155;  public  obsequies,  156;  action 
of  vestry,  157;  tributes  to,  155, 
159;  interment  in  chancel  vault, 
157;  monument  and  bust  executed 
and  erected,  160;  destroyed  and  re- 
placed, 161,  185;  biographical  sketch, 
403;   tributes  to,  410. 

Milnor  Professorship  of  Divinity  in 
Gambler,  146;  incumbents  thereof, 
147. 

Milnor,  W.  H.,  organist,  112,  168. 

Minuit,   Peter,   Director,   2. 

Mission,   Advent,   305;    pre-Lent,   379. 

Mission  Chapels,  first  planned,  204; 
trustees  to  manage,  226 ;  supported 
by  parochial  offerings,  226 ;  attend- 
ants at  not  parish  voters,  242  (see 
Chapels)  ;  supported  by  church 
collections,  317. 

Mission,  in  Avenue  A.,  225,  300,  301, 
310,  342. 

Missionary  Society,  The  Church  is  the, 
suggested  by  Dr.  Milnor,   134. 

Missionary   Thank   Offering,   372. 

Missions,  Board  of,  division  of  work 
under  two  committees,   135. 

Mollan,   Robert,   Rev.,   228,   463. 

Montgomerie  Ward,  inhabitants  of  offer 
site  for  chapel,  23. 

Moore,  Benjamin.  Rt.  Rev.,  assistant 
minister,  32 ;  elected  rector,  37 ;  de- 
clined to  act,   39;    re-elected  rector. 


INDEX 


503 


40;  consecrated  bishop,  40;  incapaci- 
tated for  duty,  41. 

Moore,  Mrs.  J.  A.,  gift  of  doors,  361. 

Moore,  Richard  Channing,  Rt.  Rev., 
consecration   of,   214. 

Morewood,  Edmund,  434. 

Morgan,  Brockholst,  Rev.,  225,  460. 

Morgan,  J.  Pierpont,  234,  246,  252, 
260,  262,  271,  273,  276,  281,  283, 
287,  288,  294,  299,  311,  318,  320, 
323,  342,  345,  355,  363,  371,  388, 
392,  448. 

Morgan,  W.  Fellowes,   388. 

Morse,  E.  W.,  parish  clerk.  111;  pro- 
test  against   his   engagement,   112. 

Mulligan,  John  W.,  439. 

Mulvaney.  John,  ass't  sexton,   178. 

Munroe,'H.   W.,   342,  453. 

Music,  vicissitudes  of,  110,  178,  196, 
275,    276. 

MusicaJ  services,  special,  277,  372, 
380. 

Nattress,  George,  Rev.,  465. 

Neau,  Elias,  catechist  among  the 
slaves,   29. 

Negroes,  free  school  for  children  of, 
Elias  Neau's  labors  among,  29; 
efforts  in  their  behalf,  30. 

Neilson,   W.   H.,   234. 

Nelson,  F.  H.,  Rev.,  355,  467. 

New  Amsterdam,  civic  troubles  of,  8; 
claimed  by  Great  Britain,  8 ;  expe- 
dition against,  8 ;  surrender  of,  9 ; 
concessions  to  Dutch,  in  capitula- 
tion, 9 ;  retaken  by  Dutch,  9 ;  second 
surrender  to  British,  10. 

New  York,  named,  1664,  9;  Washing- 
ington  entered,  1776,  33;  entry  of 
British  troops,  34;  evacuation,  37; 
condition  of  described,  37 ;  public 
thanksgiving  proclaimed  and  ob- 
served, 38;  description  of  in  1811, 
population,  type  of  house,  city  hall, 
41;  its  park,  trade,  post-office,  hours 
of  business,  42;  its  streets,  light, 
water,  social  life,  fashions,  43 ;  cus- 
toms and  manners,  taverns,  con- 
veniences, public  institutions,  bene- 
volent and  social  organizations,  44; 
its  newspapers,  college,  theater, 
churches,  important  happenings  of 
the  year,  45 ;  population  in  1840, 
149. 

Newman,  John  Henry,  Rev.  Dr.,  220. 

Newspaper,  first  in  New  York,   19. 

Newton.   Richard,   Rev.  Dr.,   199,  267. 

Nichols,  Richard,  Governor,  8. 


Nicholson,    Francis,    Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor,  1 1 . 
Nies,  William  Edgar,  Rev.,  464. 
Noble,  John,  373,  439. 
Norris,   Homer,   organist,   372. 
Norton,  George  E.,  Rev.,  472. 

Offertory  Basin,  323. 

Ogilvie,  John,  Rev.  Dr.,  assistant 
minister,  30;  death  of,  32. 

Onderdonk,  B.  T.  Rt.  Rev.,  trial  and 
suspension  of,  152;  attended  St. 
George's,  210. 

Onderdonk,    John,    54,    432. 

Oratorio  Society  rendered  special  mu- 
sic,  277. 

Organ,  first  in  Trinity  Church,  20; 
first  in  St.  George's,  91 ;  subscrip- 
tion for  new  organ,  95 ;  built  by 
Thomas  Hall,  98 ;  lecture-room 
organ,  148 ;  organ  in  new  church, 
196;  after  fire,  old  organ  from  Beek- 
man  St.  set  up;  236;  new  organ  and 
case,  241;  blown  by  steam,  274; 
chancel  organ  projected,  282,  293, 
295 ;  completed,  .303 ;  repairs  to 
large,  372;  south-side  organ,  385. 

Organists,   54,    112. 

Organizations  for  Work,  228,  230,  296; 
unification  of.  344. 

Oxford  Tracts,  145. 

Packer,  William  S.,  Rev.,  469. 
Paddock,   John   A.,  Rev.   Dr.,   279. 
Paddock.    W.    F.,    Rev.    Dr.,    assistant 

minister,  211,  458. 
Parish  Clerks,  one  "  deficient  in  psalm- 
ody," 37,  54,   112. 
Parker,  Albert  R.,   Rev.,  470. 
Parker,  Cortlandt,  238. 
Parker,   Lindsay,    Rev.,    298,    302,    307, 

345,  355,  464"^, 
Parochial     Statistics,     198,     230,     242, 

249,    298,    303,    319,    330,    343,    352, 

353,  374,  378,  392. 
Party  Feeling,   intense,   214;    improved 

conditions,    215;     result    of    Oxford 

Movement,   220. 
Payzant,  Arthur   S.,  Rev.,  471. 
Pearce,   S.   Austin,  organist,   255. 
Peet,  Edward  W.,  Rev.  Dr.,  462. 
Penfield,   S.   N.  organist,   282. 
Perkins,    J.    Newton,    Rev..    275,    276. 

279,  282,  283,  284,  285,  287,  463. 
Peters,  Harry,  54,  78,  432. 
Pews,  in  chapel,  letting  of.  24;   sale  of 

pews  in  rebuilt  Chvirch,  69 ;  set  apart 

for  indigent  communicants,  103;  sale 


504 


HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


and     rental     in    new     Church,     179 
property  rights  in,  determined,  236 
valuation  of  in  rebuilt  Church,  237 
declared    free,    293;     obtaining    sur- 
renders of,   294. 

Phelps,  Dodge  &  Co.,  purchasers  of 
old  St.  George's,  214,  245. 

Philadelphia  Divinity  School,  220;  or- 
ganized,  224. 

Philips,  W.  H.,  228,  272,  274,  294,  450. 

Pike,  H.  H.,  324,  342,  388,  455. 

Plate,  Communion,  given  by  Trinity, 
55  ;  inventory  of,  at  present  time,  482. 

Political  Reform,  interest  in,  344,  345. 

Popular  evening  services,  279,  343. 

Portraits,  of  bishops  and  rector,  order- 
ed bv  vestry,   106. 

Pott,   Gideon,  '446. 

Potts,   William,   345. 

Potter,  Alonzo,   Rt.   Rev.,   168,   220. 

Potter,  Henrv  C,  Rt.  Rev..  267,  270, 
279,  .303,  308,  311,  323,  355,  376. 

Potter,  Horatio.  Rt.  Rev.,  Provisional 
Bishop.  216;  226,  227,  235;  Pastoral 
against  practices  of  evangelical 
clergy,  238. 

Praver  Book,  distribution  of  by  E.  K. 
Sl,   218. 

Preaching,  Lectures  on.  Dr.  Tyng's, 
223 ;  at  Gambler,  in  Philadelphia, 
224. 

Problems,  under  new  conditions,   382. 

Property,  granted  to  Trinity  Church 
described,  17;  its  title  to  attacked, 
38. 

Property,  of  St.  George's,  scheduled 
and  showing  revenue,  95,  97,  286. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Clerical  Associa- 
tion, 109 :  opposition  to  by  Bp. 
Hobart,   110. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  steps  in 
the   organization   of,   38. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 129. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Sunday  School 
Union,    129. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Tract  Society, 
129. 

Provoost,  Samuel,  Rt.  Rev.,  assistant 
minister,  31;  elected  rector,  38;  Dr. 
Dix's  tribute  to,  39 ;  elected  bishop, 
consecrated,  first  ordination,  39 ;  re- 
signed rectorship  and  bishopric,  40; 
238. 

Purdy.  John,  sexton,  54. 

Pyne',  Percy  R.,  213,  234,  446. 

Quakers,  Persecution  of,  6. 


Rainsford,  W.  S.,  Rev.  Dr.,  called  to 
rectorship,  287;  call  renewed,  288; 
conditions  named  and  accepted,  288, 
289;  his  view  of  the  situation,  297; 
description  of  him,  299 ;  incidents, 
300,  301;  mission  in  Detroit,  305; 
address  in  Philadelphia,  306;  char- 
acterization of,  310;  illness  and  re- 
covery, 317;  ministry'  criticized  as 
too  humanitarian,  326;  loving-cup 
to,  346;  twentieth  anniversary,  354; 
loving-cup  presented,  355 ;  address 
at  anniversaiy,  356;  criticized  for 
Philadelphia  statements,  358 ;  break- 
down in  health,  362;  letter  of  resig- 
nation, 363;  action  of  vestry,  364; 
brief  review  of  how  he  met-  changed 
conditions,  365-7 ;  tribute  of  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt,  376;  biographical 
sketch,  423:   tributes  to,  428,  429. 

Records  of  parish,  stolen  and  recov- 
ered, 101. 

Rectory,  need  of  expressed,  56;  com- 
pleted, 69;  addition  to,  91;  rectory 
in  Sixteenth  Street,  192,  291,  294. 

Refugees,  I'ovalists,  worshiping  in  City 
Hall,  37.  ' 

Reichert,  John,  316,  355;  elected  clerk, 
361,   392,   472. 

Religious  Libertv,  guaranteed  to  all, 
10. 

Revnolds,  James  B.,  M.D.,  275,  287, 
451. 

Rice,  Maxwell  W.,  Rev.,  470. 

Rockawav  Beach  property,  318,  371, 
386;  diagram  of,  387. 

Rooker,  William  Y.,  Rev.,  457. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  tribute  to  Dr. 
Rainsford,   376. 

Sabine,  William  T.,  Rev.  Dr.,  assist- 
ant minister,  224,  225,  459. 

Saloon  question.  Dr.  Rainsford  on, 
332-336. 

Sandford,  John,  gift  of  sketch  of  ruins 
after  fire,  109. 

Satterlee,  George  C.  240,  374,  446. 

Scadding,   Charles,   Rt.   Rev.,   310,   464. 

Scale,  H.  W.  A.,  organist,  197. 

Scarlett,  William  Joseph,  Rev.,  471. 

Schenck,  X.  H.,  Rev.  Dr.,  279. 

Schermerhorn,  Cornelius,  54,  373,  433. 

Schieffelin,  W.  H.,  294,  339,  452. 

Schieffelin,  W.  J.,  342,  345,  455. 

Schramm,  Charles,  Rev.  Dr.,  assistant. 
226,  227;  resigned,  242;  sketch  of^ 
459. 

Scott,  John  F.,  Rev.,  472. 


INDEX 


505 


Seal  of  Corporation,  54;  stolen,  re- 
produced, 101. 

Sedgwick,   Theodore.   Rev.,   355,   465. 

Services,   schedule  of.   296. 

Sextons,  36,  54,  112,  480. 

Shackleford,  John  W.,  Eev.  Dr.,  279. 

Shajpe,   Chaplain,   20. 

Shatzel,  William,  149,  437. 

Sheddell,  Dorothy,  Mrs.,  236. 

Sherred,  Jacob,  architect  of  St. 
George's,  64;  legacy  to  G.  T.  S.,  142. 

Simpson,  Clara  H.,  deaconess,  316, 
326,  377. 

Slaves,  condition  of  described,  29. 

Sloughter,  Henry,  Governor,   11. 

Smith,  John  Cotton,  Rev  Dr.,  279. 

Smith,  Thomas  H..  donor  of  bell,  91. 

Smith,  William  Alexander,  234.  447. 

Smith,  William,  father  of  chanting, 
58. 

Social  intercourse  of  young  people, 
354. 

Social  Salvation,  stressed,  327,  328, 
338. 

Society,  for  Relief  of  Widows  and 
Children  of  Clergymen,  organized, 
31. 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  chartered,  its  noble  work  in 
this  country,  18. 

Spanish-American  War,  enlistments 
for,   347. 

Sparrow.  William,  Rev.  Dr.,  witness  to 
Dr.  IVIilnor,  130. 

Spencer.  Harvey,  246,  252,  271,  275, 
276,  281.  283",  285,  299,  449. 

Spencer,  Mrs.  Cath.  L.,  legacy  for 
mission  chapel  work,  392. 

Spires  completed,  205;  damage  to, 
243;  repaired,  later  taken  down, 
316. 

St.  George's  Chapel,  initiative  action 
regarding,  22;  lots  selected,  plan 
adopted,  23;  description  of  gifts  to, 
letting  of  pews  in,  formal  opening 
described,  24;  its  history  and  inter- 
ests interwoven  with  those  of  Trin- 
ity, 26;  use  of  offered  to  Dutch  con- 
gregation, 35 ;  courtesy  acknowl- 
edged, 36;  steeple  repaired,  37;  Bp. 
Provoost's  first  ordination  in,  39; 
Bp.  Moore's  first  ordination  in,  41 ; 
first  confirmation  in,  41 ;  general 
conditions  under  which  its  independ- 
ent life  began,  41 ;  action  of  Trinity 
Vestry,  49;  questions  as  to  condi- 
tions of  independence,  50;  Trinity's 
answers,   51;    certificate  of  the   con- 


gregation, 52;  act  of  incorporation, 
53. 

St.  George's  Chapel,  Free  Church  of, 
212. 

St.  George's  Church,  first  meeting  of 
vestry,  54 ;  parish  meeting,  salary 
of  rector  fixed,  55 ;  Church  received 
into  union  with  Convention,  57 ; 
parish  meeting  on  rectorship,  59; 
Dr.  Kewley  rector,  60;  destroyed  by 
fire,  61 ;  contemporaneous  accounts, 
services  in  Church  du  Saint  Esprit, 
02 ;  rebuilding  by  Trinity,  63 ;  con- 
secrated, 68;  sale  of  pews,  69;  de- 
scription of  rebuilt  church,  69;  de- 
tailed arrangements,  70;  galleries 
erected,  94;  interest  in  Union  So- 
cieties, 128;  loyalty  to  diocesan  ob- 
ligations, 129:  spiritual  conditions 
in,  130;  missionary  spirit  of,  133; 
trend  of  population  up-to^vn,  149, 
153;  plan  for  chapel  up-town,  154; 
memorial  to  Trinity,  160;  plan  for 
St.  George's  future,  opposition  there- 
to, 166;  sites  for  new  church  con- 
sidered, 167 ;  gift  of  plot  tendered 
by  P.  G.  Stuyvesant,  168;  building 
plans  adopted,  168;  comer  -  stone 
laid,  168;  schedule  of  property,  169, 
170;  services  held  at  Eighth  Street 
and  Astor  Place,  169;  removed  to 
Chapel  of  University  of  New  York, 
171;  new  Sunday-school  building, 
171;  plan  of  making  the  new  edifice 
the  parish  church  opposed,  172,  173; 
detailed  plan  of  rector,  173;  decisive 
vestry  election,  175;  action  of  vestry 
on  Woolley  incident,  175;  report  of 
Diocesan  Commission,  177;  last 
meeting  in  Beekman  Street  vestry- 
room,  first  in  new  St.  George's,  open- 
ing service,  178;  embarrassed  by 
conditions  on  property  granted  by 
Trinity  Church,  efforts  to  secure  re- 
lease, 181;  opposition  from  Beek- 
man Street  people,  182;  extended 
negotiations,  final  settlement,  188; 
consecration  of  Church.  185;  lots 
sold  to  pay  for  building,  189; 
financial  condition,  191:  erection 
of  spires,  205;  inscribed  mural  tab- 
lets on  completion  of  edifice,  206; 
distinctive  features  of  new  structure, 
207;  old  St.  George's  conveyed  to 
Church  of  Holy  Evangelists,  192; 
proposal  by  it  to  sell  building,  211; 
services  maintained  therein  by  Trin- 
ity under   name   of   Free   Church  of 


506 


HISTORY     OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


St.  George's  Chapel,  212;  negotia- 
tions with  Trinity  and  final  disposi- 
tion of  property,  213;  removals  up- 
town, 229,  231;  burning  of  Church, 
232;  steps  for  rebuilding,  233; 
reopening,  consecration,  report  of 
building  committee,  235;  special 
gifts  to,  237;  chancel  decorated  and 
extensive  repairs,  242;  decreasing 
revenues,  245;  project  for  new 
church  up-town,  245;  sites  examined, 
246;  reduction  of  expenditure,  247; 
waning  prosperity,  252;  permanent 
assistant  called,  252;  necessity  of  re- 
trenchment, 253;  resignation  of 
rector,  258;  Dr.  Williams  elected, 
260;  diminishing  resources,  abridg- 
ment of  mission  work,  271;  renewal 
of  proposal  to  move,  276,  280;  free 
church  plan  adopted,  293;  growth  of 
parish,  303 ;  liquidation  of  indebted- 
ness, 307;  declination  of  Avenue  C 
mission  work,  308 ;  election  changes 
under  State  law,  341 ;  thorough  re- 
pairs, 348;  difficulties  of  environ- 
ment, 350;  material  improvements 
in  structure,  360;  changes  in  neigh- 
borhood, 378;  outlook  for  future, 
394. 

St.  George's  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety, created  with  branches,  361 ; 
woman's  branch,  388. 

St.  George's  Chronicle,  302,  305,  334. 

St.  George's  Herald,  302. 

St.  John,  Samuel  H.,  452. 

St.   Paul's  Chapel,   opened,   31. 

Stamp   Act,   agitation  over,   30, 

Stanton  Street  Mission,  310;  change 
in  management,  323 ;  pro-cathedral, 
deeded  to  City  Mission,  329. 

Stearns,  John,  M.D.,  102,  104,  149,  154, 
156,  158,  167,  175;  death  of  Dr. 
Stearns  and  resolutions  of  vestry, 
177;  206,  372,  436. 

Stearns,  John  N.,  252,  253,  271,  274, 
275,  276,  281,  285,  287,  288,  294, 
299,  323,  342;  death  of,  373; 
449. 

Steen,  John  F.,  Rev.,  243. 

Stein,  Alexis  W.,  Rev.,  467. 

Stephens,  Rev.  Mr.,  Missioner,  305. 

Stephenson,  C.  S.,  Rev.,  225,  227,  242, 
243,  460. 

Sterrett,  Henry  H.  D.,  Rev.,  469. 

Stone,  Benjamin  W.,  Rev.  Dr.,  144. 

Stone,  John  S.,  Rev.  Dr.,  characteriza- 
tion of  Dr.  Milnor,  86,  134;  com- 
ment  on    Gen'l    Theol.    Sem'y,    144; 


tributes  to  Dr.  Milnor,  155,  156, 
218 

Strong,  William  K.,  206,  236,  444. 

Sturges,  P.  F.,  Rev.,  469. 

Stuyvesant,  Peter,  Director,  5;  intol- 
erance of,  5-7. 

Stuyvesant,  Peter  G.,  donor  of  site, 
167,  244. 

Sunday-school  Building,  erected  by 
vestry,  opened,  89;  new  building. 
Sixteenth  Street,  completed,  184; 
addition  to,  294. 

Sunday-school  Work,  emphasis  on,  87; 
its  inception  and  development,  88, 
89;  in  Dr.  Tyng's  time,  199;  growth 
of,  200;  the  magic  lantern,  201;  the 
Bible,  the  text-book.  202;  the  an- 
niversaries, 203 ;  inculcation  of  be- 
nevolence, 204;  growth  of,  295; 
graded  lessons,  324;  instruction  for 
teachers,  353. 

Swallow,   S.   C.   Rev.,   348. 

Swayne,  Wager,  Gen.,  342,  345,  453. 

Swindell,  James  H.,  organist,  111. 

Taft,  Arthur  N.,  Rev.,  467. 

Tailer,  W.  H.,  294,  452. 

Taylor,  Alan  M.,  Rev.,  470. 

Taylor,    Jeremiah    H.,    pioneer    layman 

in   St.   George's  Simday-school  work, 

88,  438. 
Tavlor,  J.  Rice,  Rev.,  274,  463. 
Tee-to-tum,  329. 
Tenement-house  reform.  Dr.   Rainsford 

on,  337. 
Thanksgiving   Day,   celebration   of,   30. 
The  Outlook  on  S't.  George's,  349. 
Theological  education,  142,  372. 
Thompson,     Hugh     Miller,     Rt.     Rev., 

324. 
Title    to   land   on    Stuyvesant    Square, 

244. 
Titus,  James  H.,  182. 
Toleration,   Religious,   none  under  the 

Dutch,  4. 
ToAvnsend,  Thomas  S.,  437. 
Tracy,  Charles,  206,  213,  238,  240,  244, 

245,    252,    253,    260,    262,    283,    285, 

290,  294,   299,   313,  4^5. 
Tracy,  Charles  Edward,  304,  322,  323, 

342,  453. 
Tracy,  F.  A.,  236,  440. 
Tracy,  Uriah  T.,  Rev.,  225,  460. 
Trade    School.    328;    permanent   build- 
ing provided,  363. 
Trades  -  unions.      Dr.      Rainsford     on, 

thanks  of  to,  349. 
Trinity     Church,     incorporated,     land 


INDEX 


507 


granted  to,  Mr.  Vesey  inducted  into 
rectorship,  opening  service  in,  15; 
previous  occupation  of  Dutch  Church, 
16;  description  of  Queen  Anne's  gift 
to,  16;  grant  of  three  pieces  of  land 
to  by  roj^al  patent,  17 ;  condition  of 
parish  described,  18;  enlargement  of 
edifice,  20;  description  of  structure, 
20 ;  official  report  of  forty-nine  years, 
21;  Chapel  of  Ease  to  be  built,  22; 
St.  George's  completed,  24;  closed 
on  Declaration  of  Independence,  33; 
reopened  on  occupation  of  city  by 
British  troops,  34;  destroyed  by  fire, 
disastrous  results,  34;  rebuilt,  39; 
pews  at  auction,  consecration  of 
building,  growth  and  prosperity,  40; 
Hobart-Jones  controversy,  46;  its 
settlement,  47 ;  action  toward  sepa- 
ration of  St.  George's,  49;  answers 
to  St.  George's  questions,  50;  agree- 
ment to  separation,  52;  rebuilt  St. 
George's,  63;  conveyance  of  lots  for 
endov/ment,  57,  64;  memorial  to  re- 
garding up-town  chapel,  154,  159; 
appeal  to  secure  release  of  condi- 
tions on  St.  George's  property,  181; 
protracted  negotiations,  185;  articles 
of  agreement,  188;  sympathy  ex- 
pressed on  burning  of  St.  George's, 
234;  bicentennial  of.  Dr.  Rainsford's 
address,  346. 

Trinity  School,  successor  of  Charity 
School,  27;  St.  George's  Scholarships 
in,  149. 

Tryon,  William,  Governor,  gift  to  St. 
G«orge's,  32. 

Tuberculosis   class,    385. 

Tucker,  Thatcher,   149,  441. 

Tyler,   Samuel,   Rev.,   468. 

Tyng,  Dudley  Atkins,  Rev.,  169,  208, 
457. 

Tyng,  James  H.,  Rev.,  185. 

Tyng,  Morris  A.,  Rev.,  241,  461. 

Tyng,  Stephen  H..  Rev.  Dr.,  134,  156; 
call  to  rectorship,  162;  first  sermon, 
163;  exhausting  labors,  trip  to  Eu- 
rope, 170:  his  plan  for  St.  George's 
stated,  173,  174;  the  Woolley  inci- 
dent, 175;  routine  of  his  ministry, 
194;  trip  to  Europe,  195;  trip  to 
Europe.  207 ;  vindication  of  St. 
George's  against  Dr.  Berrian,  217; 
sermons  during  Civil  War,  221;  in- 
vitations to  speAk  on  public  ques- 
tions, 222;  trip  to  Europe,  224; 
country  home  at  Irvington,  230;  20 
year's   summary  of  work,  230;    25th 


anniversary,  242;  trip  to  Europe, 
243;  30th  anniversary  discourse, 
248;  seriously  ill,  suggestion  of 
resignation,  256;  correspondence  re- 
garding, 257 ;  resignation  accepted, 
258;  last  meeting  with  vestry,  259; 
elected  Rector-emeritus,  farewell 
sermon,  257;  retirement,  263;  resi- 
dence in  Lexington  Avenue,  264; 
home  in  Irvington,  his  death,  action 
of  vestry,  265 ;  funeral  service,  267 ; 
interment,  269;  tributes  to,  266-270; 
gratitude  of.  to  vestry,  280;  sketch 
of,  412;  tributes  and  incidents,  417- 
422;  biography  of,  459. 
Tyng,  Stephen  H.,  Jr.,  Rev.,  assistant 
minister,  201 ;  trial  of,  and  admoni- 
tion, 238,  264. 

Union   Societies,   co-operation  in,   128. 
University   of   the   City   of   New  York, 

159. 
Ustick,   William,   434. 

Valentine,  Abraham  G.,  236. 

Van   Twiller,    Wouter,    Director,    3. 

Van  Wagenen,  Gerrit  H.,  54;  chant- 
ing incident,  58;   77,  78,   148,  431. 

Van  Wagenen,  Hubert,   102,  436. 

Vaults  in  churchyard,  list  of  owners, 
71. 

Verhulst.    William,   Director,   2. 

Vesey,  William,  elected  rector,  13,  14; 
to  England  for  ordination,  14; 
honorary  degree  received,  inducted 
into  rectorship,  15;  Commissary  of 
Bishop  of '  London,   19;   death  of,  21. 

Vestry,  (City),  elected;  favored  call- 
ing a  dissenting  minister,  superseded 
by  new  vestry,  unsatisfactory  action, 
another  election  of,   13. 

Visitations,   house  to  house,   348. 

Voluntary  Principle,  in  giving  and 
worship,  214,  239. 

Von  Brockdorff,  H.,  deaconess,  326. 

Wainwright,   Jonathan  M.,  Rt.   Rev., 

109,      156,      185,     210;      Provisional 

Bishop,  215. 
Waldron,  Anna,  Mrs.,  legacy,  151. 
Walker,  Edward  and  Sophia  Ann,  236. 
Walloons,   first  settlers,   2. 
Walter,   William   H.,   Rev.,  services  in 

St.  George's,   152. 
Walton,    James    De    Lancey,    chanting 

incident.      58 ;      owner     of     Walton 

House,  59;  92,  434. 
Ward,  J.  Seely,  342,  455. 


508 


HISTORY    OF     ST.    GEORGE'S     CHURCH 


Warden,   Eobert,   5S,   59,  432. 

Warriner,    Solomon,    112. 

Webster,  Horace,  206,  445. 

West  India  Company,  Organized,  2. 

Wetmore,  James,  Rev.,  30. 

Wetmore,   V.   E.,   307,   324. 

White,   J.   Crockar,   Rev.,   243,   461. 

White,  William,  Rt.  Rev.,  39;  letter 
to  Mr.  Milnor,  80,  84;  death  of, 
141,  238. 

Whitehouse,  H.  J.  Rev.  Dr.,  156,  176, 
177. 

Whiting,  Marshall,  services  in  St. 
George's,    133. 

Whitmore,  Holmes,  Rev.,  468. 

Whittingham,  W.  R.,  Rt.  Rev.,  210. 

Whitlock,  William,  Jr.,  149,  154,  162, 
167,  171,  175;  whole  cost  of  new 
Church  advanced  bv,  180,  191,  206; 
death  of,  251;  sketch  of,  439. 

Wilcox,  Edward  F.,  Rev.,  471. 

Williams,  John,  Rt.  Rev.,  311. 

Williams,  W.  F.,  organist,  241,  242. 

Williams,  Walter  W.,  Rev.  Dr.,  asso- 
ciate rector,  252,  254,  255;  services 
assigned,  255 ;  elected  rector,  260 ; 
resignation,  282;  311;  sketch  of,  422. 


Williston,  Ralph,  Rev.,  services  in  St. 

George's,   85. 
Wills,   C.   J.,    Stanton   Street  Mission, 

323;   death  of,  329. 
Wilson,  Frances  L.,  bequest  of,  381. 
Wilson,  Henry,  Rev.  Dr.,  301,  302,  317, 

325,  464. 
Wilson,  James  G.,  Rev.,  471. 
Winston,   Frederick   S.,    154,    156,    162, 

167,  187,  190,  191,  196,  206,  441. 
Winthrop,  Robert,  450. 
Wolcott.  Calvin  C,  Rev.,  194,  198,  225, 

226,  457. 
Wolley,  Charles,  chaplain,  10. 
Woman's    Auxiliary,    endowment,    339, 

343. 
Wood,  John  D.,  285,  299,  450. 
Wood,   Ross   W.,   206;    death  of,   277; 

445. 
Woolley.  B.  L.,  102,  149,  154,  156,  158, 

167,  174,  175,  177,  438. 
Working-men,  lectures  to,  348. 

Young,  Mason,  450. 

Young  People's  Association,  297. 

Yucho,  William,  organist,   111. 

ZuNDEL,  John,  organist,  196. 


THE    END 


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